Grocery Store
by Aryanne
Summary: It seemed like all the appealing ones were taken these days. Or gay. [KK]
1. The Next Aisle

**Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.**

**-**

**Grocery Store**

**- **

**Chapter 1 - The Next Aisle  
**

**- **

Kaoru was in the baking aisle the first time. She was pushing her cart down the aisle, and he was pushing his cart up. He looked like he was deciding which brand of sugar to buy, the store brand, or Dominos. The store brand was seventy five cents cheaper. He picked up the store brand. Kaoru would've done the same thing. All white sugar tasted the same anyway. She spotted the flour down the aisle and pushed her cart past him as he placed the sugar in his shopping cart. She was always on the lookout for attractive men. She was pretty sure it was subconscious.

She saw him again in the next aisle. She was coming up, and he was going down. He was picking out soup: Campbell's. Shame; she was a Progresso girl herself. But she didn't need soup today, so she pushed her cart past his and went for the peanut butter. She was almost out. That would not do for the nights when she ate peanut butter crackers for dinner.

In the next aisle he was standing right next to the V8 splash. She needed her V8 splash.

"Excuse me," she said, coming out from behind her shopping cart. He was still attractive close up. Sometimes, people were disappointing when you got too close.

"Oh, sorry," he said, stepping away from the cranberry juice and directly in front of the V8 splash.

"No. I meant behind you," she said, feeling a little embarrassed that she had to make him move again.

His violet eyes widened a little. She had to give him points for those. Violet was her favorite color. "Sorry," he said again, and moved back further. His leg brushed against his cart.

"No, it's my fault," she said, successfully snagging a liter of V8 splash from the shelf. Three sixty-nine. Ouch. Well, this was why she had a job. She flashed him a smile. "Thanks."

She saw him again in the next aisle, picking out coffee. She smiled at him for a moment and he smiled back. He had a nice smile.

In the next aisle she was deciding which cereal she should get when he pushed his cart into the aisle behind a young mother with two toddling twins and a baby. Kaoru watched from the corner of her eye as one of the twins finished his bottle and handed it to the man. He smiled down at the kid and looked kind of lost for a moment until the mother noticed and took the bottle back from him, apologizing. He said it was no big deal and Kaoru decided she liked the sound of his voice.

He walked toward her and she shook her head the tiniest bit to clear it, paying attention to the cereals for real now. Frosted Mini-wheats were on sale: one sixty-nine a box. She reached for one as he reached for a box of Frosted Cheerios next to her.

"We meet again," Kaoru joked, because she had to say something.

"So we have," he said seriously. And then, "Are you going on a camping trip?"

"No. Why?"

He gestured towards her cart. "It looks like you're buying food for a trip, that's all."

She laughed. "Oh that. It's because I can't cook. Or I can, but I'm too lazy to actually do it. I like instant food, hence the ramen."

"You don't eat meat?" he asked, as if a person couldn't be expected to exist without it.

"If I have guests, or if I go out to eat." Kaoru shrugged and decided she wanted a box of Frosted Cheerios too. One more box of cereal and she'd be good.

He shrugged and picked up a box of Frosted Flakes. "Well I guess the fact that you're still alive says something."

"I'm alive, alright," Kaoru nodded, deciding on Cinnamon Life and placing the three boxes of cereal in her shopping cart.

"See you in the next aisle," he said as she pushed her cart away.

Kaoru raised her hand in a lazy wave, but didn't look back. She had to admit, the guy was one of the more attractive supermarket friends she'd made. Usually the people she wound up going up and down the aisles with calmly went about their business and ignored her, or their little kids stared at her, so they felt the need to say hello. Kids loved her hair. If only they knew what a pain waist length hair was to take care of. Soon, she'd probably chop it all off and donate it to Locks of Love.

She sped up, or he slowed down, because she didn't see him again until the parking lot. He was parked across from her. A Mazda sports car. She liked his car better than hers. Maybe if she asked nicely he'd agree to swap.

"Need any help?" he asked as she loaded her bags into the back of her car.

"No thanks," she said. "I'm good."

"Alright. Nice meeting you," he said.

"You too."

He got in his car, backed out of the parking space, and drove away. Kaoru slammed the lid of her trunk down and turned to push the car back to the store. His voice got better every time she heard it.

---

---

She met him again over a month later in the laundry room of her apartment. It was one o'clock in the afternoon on a Monday and she'd taken the day off from work. He was loading clothes into two different washers. Kaoru needed three. She chose the open washers across from him.

"Hi," she said, wondering if he'd remember her.

He looked up and laughed. "You live here?"

"Yeah," Kaoru answered with a smile as she transferred laundry from her basket to the washers. "Tenth floor. You?"

"Fifth. I know I haven't seen you before."

Kaoru shrugged. "Just wasn't meant to be, I guess."

"I'm Kenshin Himura," he said, holding out his hand across the top of the washing machines.

She stretched to grasp it. "Kaoru Kamiya. So how's life been since the grocery store?" Kaoru asked as he fished around in his pocket for quarters to put in the machine.

He laughed. "It's looking up. I haven't been back since. My girlfriend does most of the food shopping, thankfully. What about you?"

It seemed like all the appealing ones taken were these days. Or gay. "I can't complain," she said. "Well, not much. Only about the laundry sucking away all my quarters."

"This is my last day doing laundry here," he said. "My girlfriend and I are moving in together. We're renting a row house."

"Congratulations," Kaoru said, since he seemed relieved.

"Thanks," he said, placing the last of his quarters in the machine and starting both the washers. "In a month, I should be in quarter heaven."

"Maybe some day I'll get there," Kaoru joked.

He picked up his laundry detergent and clothes basket. "I'll look out for you." He headed towards the door. "Nice meeting you again, Kaoru Kamiya."

"Likewise," she said as he waved a little and walked out the door. Damn, she really did like the sound of his voice.

---

---

She met him again nine months later. She was on vacation, but she had nowhere to go for vacation, so she was in the laundry room of her apartment, once again. She was almost done, taking the clothes from the dryer and tossing them in her clothes basket. She glanced up when he walked in.

"Kaoru?" he asked in disbelief.

"What are you doing here?" she asked at the same time. She'd been perfectly happy forgetting about his violet eyes and the sound of his voice and his red hair.

They both paused for a moment and started laughing as Kenshin walked towards her. He recovered first. "I didn't think you still lived here. How've you been?"

"You don't live here," Kaoru proclaimed. "What are you doing in the laundry room?"

"I moved back four months ago. My ex-girlfriend moved to Seattle." His eyes drifted down to her hands.

She realized she was holding a pair of Sano's boxers. How Megumi had left them in her apartment, she'd never know and didn't want to. Having friends really didn't work to her advantage sometimes.

"I'm sorry," Kaoru said. What else did you say to that?

"Don't be," he said mildly. "I'm cool with it. I'm not so cool with being rejected from quarter heaven."

Kaoru smiled. He remembered their joke. "Yeah, well I haven't made it there yet, so don't gloat."

"Still, to enter it for four months and then be kicked out," he continued, "To have experienced the joy of having actual quarters for a time period longer than two weeks, to have refrained from changing ten dollar bills into rolls of quarters at the bank for five whole months-"

"I get it, I get it," Kaoru interrupted. "Heartbreaking. But don't they say it's better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all?"

"They were talking about people when they said that. I'm talking about quarters. Quarters are harder to get over because you keep losing them over and over and over and over and over-"

"Do you have a quarter fetish?"

Kenshin laughed. "You know what? I think I do."

"Maybe you ought to get that checked out."

"Nah. I'm too far gone."

"Well I don't know what to say to that," Kaoru admitted. The voice, the eyes, the face, the hair, and now he had a sense of humor.

"Do you feel single?" she asked before she thought too much about possible embarrassment that could result from this incident.

"Um. Yes?"

"It sounds like you don't actually know."

"To be honest, I don't even understand the question."

"After living with someone and then not, how long did take to get back on your feet?"

He shrugged. "My ex got married last month, but I haven't really dated yet. It's different for everyone."

"Good."

"Good?"

Kaoru blushed. "That's not what I meant."

He didn't look upset, just watched her with a slight smile.

"I meant good for me, because I was looking for a lucky guy like you to give a free meal."

"You need a date for something, but you don't want it to be a real date."

"Do you mind?"

"Well I'm a little upset that you haven't fallen prostrate at my feet to worship me like all the other women in my life, but I'll get over it."

"I'll have you there and back in two hours if you're free tonight."

"I guess I'll be one step closer to watching you grovel at my feet it if I go."

Kaoru blinked. "Or you won't be."

"Humor me. What time?"

"Six. My friends are threatening me with this guy named Larry. Megumi said he's got fish lips. Her and her boyfriend have a six-thirty dinner reservation for four at Hard Rock Café down at harbor."

"Larry sounds wonderful."

"I'm sure he's a great guy."

He shook his head. "You don't believe that. Admit it. You're turned off by his fish lips and you haven't even met him yet."

"I'll do no such thing. Listen, you get to stay single, go out with a beautiful woman with no strings attached, and eat free food from Hard Rock Café. Don't criticize the beautiful woman."

He rolled his eyes. "How'd your friends get a reservation? I thought you had to stand outside and wait for hours. Did they change the policy or something?"

"No, Sano paid some kid fifty bucks to make the reservation and hold our spot."

"Sano sounds like a smart man."

"Don't let Megumi hear you say that. Meg's a doctor and Sano's a physical therapist. They both work at Mercy hospital downtown. The wedding's in May, but Sano wants to elope to Vegas. Megumi usually gets her way."

He laughed. "If I have a horrible time, I blame you."

"You won't, but believe me, I already blame myself. So I'll see you in a few hours?"

He shrugged. "Sure. Where am I meeting you?"

"The lobby at six?"

"Sounds good."

Kaoru picked up her laundry basket. "Thanks, Kenshin. I'll see you later."

He waved.


	2. She Laughed, He Laughed

**Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.**

**-**

**Grocery Store**

**- **

**Chapter 2 - She Laughed, He Laughed  
**

**- **

"You really saved me, you know?" Kaoru acknowledged. They stood in the middle of the apartment lobby. She lived on the right side. Kenshin lived on the left.

"I still don't think Larry would've been that bad, but since you think he would've, just remember you owe me and we'll leave it at that."

"Excuse me, but I paid for your dinner."

"Yeah, but I had tickets to the Washington Wizards game tonight, floor seats, and I was a no-show just to do you a favor."

"Liar."

He grinned and shrugged. "You caught me."

Kaoru rolled her eyes. "I believed you until you said you had floor seats."

"You're right. That was a little too farfetched. But you still owe me if we should happen to run into each other again."

"If you ever need a date who's not really your date, I'll help you out. Fair enough?"

"Fair enough," he repeated. "And on this hypothetical future non-date, do you promise to put as much effort into your appearance as I did for your non-date?"

Kaoru surveyed his clothing. He looked presentable enough to bring home to her parents, but she'd never seen him look unpresentable, not even in the laundry room. And when people got around to going to the laundry room, they usually wore the last clean clothing they had. In Kaoru's case, this clothing never exactly matched. "Exactly how much effort did you put into your appearance?"

He tilted his head slightly and made a show of thinking. "Seventy-four point six percent, I'd say. I can look much better than this."

"Did your mother tell you that?"

He laughed. "She did, actually. But she was only one of many, Kaoru, one of many."

She liked his laugh, and the sound of her name when he said it. It was really too bad he wasn't over his last girlfriend yet.

"Whatever you say, Kenshin."

"That's what I like to hear from a woman." He paused just long enough for her to think he meant it before continuing, "Seriously though, I didn't have a horrible time." He held out a hand. "Good night then, Miss Kamiya."

She accepted it. "Good night, Mr. Himura." She smiled, released his hand, and turned away. It wouldn't do her any good to get involved with him romantically, but if they ever did meet again, she thought she'd like being his friend. Kaoru smiled to herself as she walked away.

"The hypothetical future non-date isn't actually all that hypothetical," he called after her.

Kaoru shook her head and kept walking.

---

---

Three weeks later he tapped her on the shoulder. She was in the lobby of the apartment building, waiting on Megumi to pick her up so they could go shopping, and she thought it would be the little old lady who worked in the office, but it was Kenshin.

"We meet again," he observed with a smile as she turned around. "How've you been?"

Kaoru grinned. "Larry-less and great. What about you?"

He shrugged. "I go to work, I come home. You get the picture."

"Don't you have any friends?"

"I may have kinda sorta ditched them while I was going out with my ex-girlfriend, so they were forced to get lives. Consequently, I don't spend as much time around them as I used to." He shrugged. "It'll be fine once I get a life."

"So you're still recovering."

He grinned. "I love hard, baby."

Kaoru burst into a fit of laughter. He watched her with a bemused smile. Kaoru appreciated his sense of humor. He said the most ridiculous things. "No really," she said when she could manage it, "What's the real reason?"

"Eh, I got promoted at work-"

"Congratulations!"

"So I've had to work extra hours to prove I'm worthy. I bet I'll get a great Christmas bonus though."

"Where do you work?"

"I've been at--------for a few years now. I'm a financial consultant for small business owners. What about you?"

"I'm an undergraduate admissions counselor at the university."

"Deciding the fate of today's youth, huh?"

"Something like that." She tilted her head towards the door. "So where are you off to?"

"Just the corner store to pick up some eggs. You?"

"I'm waiting for Megumi to pick me up. She's late."

"Well tell her I said hi."

"Sure thing."

He paused with his hand on the door. "Would you mind if I asked you for your phone number, just so I can collect on that future non-date?"

"Ask away."

He stared at her for a second. "You're really going to make me ask again?"

"You only asked if you could ask."

He rolled his eyes. "I'll remember never to phrase a question like that again."

She grinned at him.

---

---

He called her two weeks later. She was sitting in front of the television watching the style network and eating a bowl of chocolate ice cream. A stack of early decision applications sat on the cushion next to her, waiting for her to read them.

"Hey Kaoru, it's Kenshin."

"Hey. What took you so long to call?"

He laughed. "I didn't want to seem too eager to talk to you again, but I am, so that's a total lie."

"So your pride got in the way, huh? Watch out. That's one of the seven deadly sins."

"I know. I saw the Brad Pitt movie. It didn't end too well."

"He should've listened to Morgan Freeman."

"True," Kenshin agreed, "You really couldn't blame him there at the end though."

"No. I guess not."

"So not to be forward or anything, but are you free the Saturday after Thanksgiving? One of my so-called friends got Wizard tickets, but his girlfriend's making him take her, so he wants to double. I think you're supposed to keep her distracted so he can watch the game."

"He didn't actually say that, did he?"

"No, but I've known him for five years now. That's definitely the reason. So will you go? All expenses paid."

Kaoru thought about it for a few seconds. She knew she was free that day, she liked basketball, and she liked Kenshin, but would she like his friends? Well, he'd given hers a chance. "What kind of seats do you have?"

"Tenth row, center court."

And those were good seats, fabulous seats. "If I have a horrible time, I blame you."

"So it's a non-date then?"

"Yeah."

---

---

"You cut your hair."

"Hello to you too," Kaoru said, tugging her hat on.

He whisked it off her head. "Wait, I have to see." His eyes ran over her new pixie hair cut, and he walked a full circle around her. She'd been getting a lot of that since she cut her hair after Black Friday.

"So what's the verdict?" Kaoru asked when he'd walked his circle and stopped in front of her.

"Professional, yet sexy."

Kaoru snorted. "Give me my hat back. What kind of verdict is that?"

"The right verdict." He gave her the hat back. "I bet you donated it to Locks of Love."

She nodded, jamming the hat back on her head. "I think look like a skinny teenage boy with this hat on. It covers up all my hair."

Kenshin opened his mouth, but she cut him off. "Don't say anything. I wasn't fishing for a compliment. Now how are we getting there?"

"We're taking my car, so let's go to the garage. You don't mind sitting in the back with the girlfriend, do you?"

Kaoru shook her head and followed Kenshin as he started the walk to the apartment's parking garage. "Does she have a name?"

He looked sideways at her and grinned. "Well it would've been hard for her to make it this far in life without one."

"You're paying me back for the phone number thing aren't you?"

"I'm thrilled Kaoru, you remembered."

---

---

Kaoru yawned and opened her eyes. She was greeted with the sight of the front of Kenshin's car, and out the windshield there was the apartment's parking garage.

He turned off the car and pulled the key from the ignition. "We dropped them off ten minutes ago, and you've been asleep for eight of those minutes. How do you do it?"

She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I guess the trip wore me out. I had a good time."

"I know. Did you really have to start screaming at Gilbert Arenas just because he fouled Lebron James?"

"I like Lebron James."

"Yeah, but he's not on the Wizards. If you were a guy, the man in front of us would have jumped you. He would've jumped me if I hadn't acted like I didn't know you."

"I'd have liked to see him try," Kaoru said primly, glancing around for her hat. "Did you know I'm a black belt?"

"In what?"

"Does it really matter? I'm a lethal weapon." Kaoru found her hat under her leg. "So you don't ever have to worry about being jumped around me, Kenshin. I'll protect you."

"That's comforting."

"I thought it would be." Kaoru put her hat on and got out of the car. Opposite her, Kenshin did the same.

"So I guess now we're even," he said, locking his car door and slamming it shut.

"Oh, you mean about the non-date thing."

"Yeah."

"It might be cool to hang out sometimes though," Kaoru said as they walked towards the entrance to the apartment.

"Sometimes," he agreed, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

They walked in comfortable silence for a moment.

"So why didn't you want it to be a real date?" he asked.

"What?"

"The first non-date, when you asked me, you said you didn't want it to be a real date. I've been wondering."

She smiled and didn't look at him. "A couple reasons. First off, I didn't even know you. You might've turned out to be a conceited jerk," she reflected, "or boring."

"That's understandable."

"And you aren't over your ex-girlfriend yet."

He held the door open for her. She got a faint whiff of his scent as she walked past him.

"That's another good reason. I didn't know you were so practical."

"It's not that hard," Kaoru answered. She was a little disappointed that he'd just admitted he wasn't over his girlfriend yet, but she thought she could live with that. It kept things between them simple. There was no use waiting on him. "Christmas is in two weeks. Do anything for the holidays?"

"I'm flying home for a few weeks. I'm from Missouri. You?"

"I'm going home too, driving down to Virginia. Oh, you don't have to walk me back, I'll take the stairs."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Good night, Kenshin. And thanks again." Kaoru opened the door to the stairwell.

"No, thank you, pixie woman. I still say it's sexy, even with the hat on."

Kaoru laughed. "Good night, Kenshin."

"Good night," she heard him say as the door shut behind her. She wondered how his ex-girlfriend could have given him up. They'd broken up over ten months ago, probably closer to eleven, and he still hadn't completely gotten over her. Now that was loyalty.

---

---

He called her a week into January.

"Hi, Kenshin."

"Hey, Kaoru. You're back in town, right?"

"Since two days after Christmas. We don't get much time off at work."

"That sucks. I just got back last night. Can I come over and make you dinner?"

Dinner. She'd been planning on ramen. "What's the catch?"

"Nothing," he said seriously. "I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I decided you're the first person I want to cook for this year. I treat all my friends. Are you up for it?"

"I'm always up for free food. I'm in 243."

"Great."

He knocked on her door ten minutes later. She opened it and he walked in, arms laden with two giant grocery bags. "Hey, Kaoru. Your hair grew."

"Yeah. Just sit the bags on the counter," she said, locking the door behind him.

"Miss me since I've been gone?" he asked. "I bet you were despondent without me."

"I got on just fine," Kaoru replied as he hugged her. "Work is taking over my life."

"Now that the Christmas rush is over, I've got a lot of free time."

"Way to rub it in."

"I knew you'd appreciate it. Listen, I know you're reading applications, so just go back into the living room and read them while I cook. I'll have it ready for you in forty-five minutes."

As always when something was too good to be true, she felt the need to stop it from happening. Darn conscience. "You don't really have to do this, Kenshin. Ramen's just fine for me."

"Well I have standards. Maybe someday I'll rub off on you."

"God, I hope not."

He laughed. "I missed talking to you, Kaoru."


	3. January, February, March

**Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.**

**-**

**Grocery Store**

**- **

**Chapter 3 - January, February, March  
**

**- **

He called her on her cell phone a week into January.

"Hi, Kenshin." She was surprised to hear from him. They hadn't been in contact with each other for almost a month. The past holiday season had been one of the most distracting that Kaoru had ever lived through. It had seemed like every single one of her friends had thrown a Christmas or New Year's party. She'd gone to a few parties given by her coworkers as well. And, of course, she'd driven home.

"Hey, Kaoru. You're back in town, right?"

"Since three days after Christmas. We don't get much time off at work."

"That sucks. I just got back last night. Can I come over and make you dinner?"

Dinner. She'd been planning on ramen, but she had seven applications left to read tonight, and it would help if she had more to eat than just ramen. Still, she'd never invited Kenshin to her apartment before. "What's the catch?"

"Nothing," he said seriously. "I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I decided you're the first person I want to cook for this year. Are you up for it?"

Kaoru tapped her pen against the table. "Are you really serious?"

"As death."

Well it didn't get more serious than that. What the hell, she liked Kenshin. Hopefully he could actually cook. "I'm always up for free food," Kaoru decided, "I'm in 443."

"Great."

He knocked on her door ten minutes later. She opened it and he walked in, arms laden with two giant grocery bags. "Hey, Kaoru. Your hair grew."

"Yeah," she acknowledged. One hand drifted to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. She was a little self-conscious about her hair, now that it wasn't quite pixie length, but wasn't quite long enough to style. "Just sit the bags on the counter," she said, locking the door behind him.

"Miss me since I've been gone?" he asked as he followed her orders. "I bet you were despondent." He leaned and elbow against the counter and grinned at her.

"I got on just fine," Kaoru said primly.

He only smiled, which frustrated her because he knew he was frustrating her.

"I don't know if anyone's told you this before, but the world doesn't revolve around you."

"Oh I know. If it did, I'd run things a bit differently. So how'd the holidays go for you?"

Kaoru shrugged and walked over to the table where she'd been whittling down the days stack of applications. "It was fun. I saw a lot of my friends and spent a couple days with my family-"

"In Virginia," he interrupted.

"Yeah, in Virginia. It was pretty much an alcoholic holiday season. I don't remember New Year's Eve at all, which was all Sano's fault for serving this seriously spiked fruity drink." She sat down in her chair. "And now work is taking over my life."

"Funny, because now that the Christmas rush is over, I've got a lot of free time."

"Way to rub it in."

"I knew you'd appreciate it. Listen, I know you're reading applications, so don't let me bother you. I'll have dinner ready for you in forty-five minutes."

As always when something was too good to be true, she felt the need to stop it from happening. Damn conscience. "You don't really have to do this, Kenshin. Ramen's just fine for me."

"Well I have standards. Maybe someday I'll rub off on you."

"God, I hope not."

He laughed. "I missed talking to you, Kaoru."

She shook her head and ignored the compliment, and he turned away and started pulling groceries from the bags he'd brought. It was no big deal, the fact that he'd said he missed talking to her, but it felt good to have him there, as good as the times when Sano and Megumi came over and it was Megumi standing over there cooking while she and Sano argued or watched TV or teased Megumi. She and Kenshin weren't friends yet, but maybe they would be sometime soon.

---

---

A month later he opened the door.

"Hey."

"Hi, Kenshin. Listen, do you mind if I work here for a few hours? I'm driving myself crazy reading these applications in my apartment. It's not a bad time is it?"

"Nah," he held the door opened wide and stepped aside so Kaoru could walk in. "You're lucky I didn't have a date tonight. I was just watching a basketball game. Remind me to never apply for your job."

"It's a great job," Kaoru said, defending her livelihood as he shut the door behind her.

"Kenshin," he mimicked in a high pitched voice, "I'm driving myself crazy. My job gives me homework!"

"It's a great job," Kaoru repeated. "And since when are you dating anyway? You'd think the fact that you use more shampoo and conditioner on you hair than all the Victoria Secret models combined would turn off most women."

"I demand to know who told you my secret."

"My lips are sealed."

"Would you tell me if I told you how I met Larry?"

"You met fish lips Larry?"

Kenshin nodded. "His lips aren't that bad, more like a salmon's than a catfish or a trout."

Kaoru sank down at his kitchen table, dropping her files down as well. "When did you meet him?"

"Oh, about a week ago. I wanted to save it for ammunition. Sano introduced me. He mentioned to Larry that I knew you. Larry seemed interested."

Kaoru suddenly had a hard time swallowing. "Interested?"

"Interested," Kenshin repeated. "He asked if you were dating anyone. He remembered that Megumi had asked him to double date with you, but apparently you'd come down with a case of food poisoning that night. He hinted that he wanted to meet you."

Kaoru narrowed her eyes and glared at Kenshin, who was looking entirely too smug, perfectly conditioned hair and all. "What did you say to him?"

He pulled an invisible piece of lint from his sweater. "Oh, you mean he hasn't called you yet?"

"You gave him my number!" Kaoru shrieked, bolting up from the table and advancing towards her tormentor.

Kenshin backed away laughing. "Of course I didn't! Calm down."

"Rrr. Don't ever scare me like that again, Kenshin!" Kaoru fumed. "I only guessed about the conditioner anyway!"

He was still smiling. "I know you guessed, because it's not true. Have you ever even met Larry?"

"No! But I refuse to be set up with some stranger, especially not someone with fish lips! Every time I imagine it, I come up with the most disgusting images ever."

Kenshin rolled his eyes. "I think Megumi made up the fish lips part. He looked almost normal to me."

Kaoru shook her head. "If Megumi said he has fish lips, then he has fish lips. She wouldn't torment me with empty threats, because she knows I might call her bluff. Every single time I've called her out, she's delivered. It's embarrassing." Kaoru sat down at the table again. The applications loomed in front of her. "I must be a masochist."

---

---

"How about Jurassic Park?" Kenshin asked after dinner in mid March. Sano and Megumi hadn't stuck around to finish washing the dishes, and the other friends Kaoru had invited from work had left just as quickly.

"Can we watch the second one?" Kaoru asked, drying her hands on the dish towel. She didn't mind washing dirty dishes, because Kenshin had done her the favor of cooking for six people. The man must have been a five star chef in another life. She was glad he'd decided to use his powers for good. The good of her stomach of course.

"Where'd you get this Jeff Goldblum fascination?" he asked, knowing Jeff Goldblum's starring role was the reason the second Jurassic Park movie was her favorite.

"I don't know." She shrugged and found him in the living room, holding both DVDs in one hand each and looking at them as if he'd find the answer to his question that way.

She took the Jurassic Park2 DVD from his hand and put it in the DVD player. "It's cold in here. Get me a blanket? First door after the bathroom."

"Oh, sure," he said, absentmindedly handing her the other DVD and wandering off in the direction of her linen closet.

Kaoru put the DVD on the rack and sat down on the couch, kicking off her shoes and curling her feet under her.

He came back with a navy blue comforter big enough to fit a king size bed. "You want any popcorn?" he asked as he draped it over her, and, incidentally, the whole couch.

"Nah, I'm good. Sit down so we can watch."

"Alright," he said, lifting a corner of the comforter and sitting under it with her. "I don't like the part where the dinosaurs attack the little British girl."

"Well it's not like you're supposed to get off on that scene," Kaoru said as she pressed play.

He laughed. They had become friends after all, partly because they got along well, and partly because they lived in the same apartment and it was convenient. If he wanted to try out a recipe on her, hey, he'd never failed on a dish yet. They both liked basketball, and it didn't matter if she came over just to work on applications in a different setting. He'd keep himself busy with a game and only bother her on commercials or a vent on a ridiculous call made by a referee.

Mid March and reading applications for work was still driving her crazy, but Kenshin was one of the people in her life that made it bearable. And Sano and Megumi liked him. The wedding was in less than two months and Megumi was usually a wreck, but Kenshin's presence had an odd way of mellowing her.

"Kaoru? Hello? Kaoru, you're spacing out."

Kaoru jumped. "Don't pay attention to me, watch the movie."

"Were you thinking about Larry?"

"What?"

"Larry," Kenshin repeated patiently.

"Why would I be thinking about Larry?"

"Sano told me you were shopping with Megumi and you ran into Larry and she finally introduced you."

Kaoru suppressed a shiver. Larry did have fish lips. Megumi's smug smirk had been a fearsome thing to behold. She swore her best friend was a bit of a sadist. "So?"

"So you met him in the grocery store."

Kaoru knew she had a blank look of confusion on her face. "And?"

"We met in the grocery store. Over a year ago. Are you going to start hanging around Larry now?" He was teasing her, probably to distract himself from the scene with the little British girl. Granted, it was a disturbing scene.

"It's sweet that you remember, but stop teasing me about Larry and watch the movie."

"Did you think he has fish lips?" Kenshin asked. He pursed his lips in an imitation of Larry.

"Ew," Kaoru said, and rolled her eyes. She tried to pay attention to the television. The little British girl sure was dumb, feeding tiny dinosaurs a hot dog. What did she think they'd do when it was all gone, skip happily away?

"Are you still afraid he's going to kiss you?" Kenshin asked, drawing closer with his imitation fish lips.

Kaoru pushed him away. "You're twenty-six, man. Stop."

"But Kaoru," he said, imitating Larry's higher-pitched voice and tickling her under the blanket, "I thought you loved fish lips."

Kaoru immediately curled up into a ball and tried not to fall off the couch. She was ticklish. "Kenshin!" she said, trying not to laugh.

"No Kaoru, my name's Larry. I just want to fishy kiss you a fishy goodnight," he said, tone pitched toward a whine that imitated Larry's nasal voice. Kenshin tickled her harder. She jerked in violent spasms of laughter, the movie completely forgotten. Vaguely, she hoped she wouldn't fall off the couch.

"Fishy, Kaoru, fishy," he said, his Larry imitation suddenly getting better with practice.

"Kenshin!" she beseeched him, doing her best to plead with her eyes since she couldn't stop laughing. Mercifully, he stopped tickling her to let her recover, but when she looked up at him, he was still doing the fish imitation. Or the Larry imitation. They were pretty much the same thing.

"Please," he implored. He had the nerve to look sad. Where those tears swimming in his eyes? The man really was too much.

"Oh fine," Kaoru agreed. "Close your eyes."

He did, and she very carefully pressed the remote to his lips.

"I feel gypped," he said, and leaned in to kiss her for real. She leaned in too, because she'd been waiting to kiss him forever it felt like, and so what if dinosaurs were roaring in the background?

She closed her eyes and it was a good kiss, but it was a first kiss. Tentative. Light. Kenshin leaned forward, but she pulled away. Her heart was suddenly beating too fast, and when she opened her eyes he was staring at her. She felt her skin start to heat. She knew she blushed too easily.

"Let's not, Kenshin."

She liked Kenshin, she really did. But now she knew him, and he'd make the most infuriatingly possessive boyfriend ever, which was cute at first, and stayed cute only if one wanted to be possessed. And frankly, Kaoru didn't.

She thought he'd comment for a split second, but then he just shrugged and turned back to the movie. John Hammond was blackmailing Jeff Goldblum into going back to the island.


	4. Coworkers

**Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or Day-Glo green.**

**-**

**Grocery Store**

**- **

**Chapter 4 - Coworkers  
**

**-**

"Here you are," Kenshin said two days later. 

Kaoru looked up from her chicken salad as Kenshin placed his own lunch – some type of fish fillet, fries, and a coke – on the table. She'd picked a table near the west door, figuring Kenshin would be able to pick her out easily in the crowded college food court.

She smiled as he sat down across from her. "Hey. I didn't think you'd come." After what happened Saturday night, she finished in her head.

"Couldn't resist the lure of the free meal ticket you gave me." His eyes followed a group of freshman girls walking towards the pizza area. "How do you work here everyday? I feel old just looking at all these kids."

Kaoru laughed. "You are old compared to them," she said, and then to soften the statement, "but you could be a grad student." He looked good in a suit, she admitted. She didn't usually see him until after he'd gotten home from work and changed into more casual clothing.

"I think you were supposed to reassure me, not push me further into a midlife crisis."

"I operate on tough love."

"So that's what you call it."

Kaoru nodded and stabbed at a crouton with her plastic fork. She didn't know who she was trying to kid – plastic forks did not stab croutons. Unless they were soggy. And if they were soggy, they weren't worth eating.

The fact that Kenshin looked good in a suit bothered her. He always looked good, although there was this one shirt with a horrible green dolphin pattern that he wore on weekends that really mess with her head. Sometimes, he actually wore it outside.

"So I get to see your office after lunch, right?" Kenshin asked, starting on his fish fillet. He pitched his voice just loud enough so she could hear him over the murmur of voices in the background, but low enough so that the frat boys at the next table couldn't, although Kaoru was one hundred percent positive they couldn't care less.

"You definitely get to see my office," she confirmed.

"Good. I want to compare and make sure mine's larger."

Kaoru rolled her eyes. "You win already. I share my office with another counselor, but she's reading applications at home today, so you won't bother her."

"I don't think I've ever bothered a woman with my presence in my life. They pretty much all like me."

His fish fillet was already half gone.

"What about your mother?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Why do you keep bringing my mother up?"

"I don't keep bringing her up. She's a woman too."

"Okay fine. Excluding my mother."

"And me."

"I bother you? Hmm. I guess you're right. I try hard enough."

"I knew you did it on purpose!" Kaoru said triumphantly, "That innocent act gets old." No lie, it really did. Although she wished he'd put on his innocent face after he'd kissed her Saturday night, then she would've known he didn't mean anything by it. But he hadn't, so she'd known he was serious, and he'd known she'd known he was serious, and she'd known that he'd known that she'd known that he was serious, and so on, and life was suddenly more complicated than before.

"I do not have an innocent act."

"You use it all the time on Megumi."

"If I teased her, she'd eat me alive."

Kaoru stabbed a piece of chicken and considered. "Eh, you're probably right."

"I know I'm right."

He finished his fillet and took a sip of his coke before starting on his fries.

"How's the food?"

He shrugged. "It's all right. I'm hungry. I had a meeting with a client this morning."

"Did it go well?"

"It turned out fine in the end, but it ran overtime, so that's why I'm a little late. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," she said, and they fell into a small silence. But it was comfortable, not awkward like she'd feared.

And when she'd shown him around the office and introduced him to all her coworkers (he was right, women did love him), she walked him to the edge of the parking lot and he kissed her on the cheek and left. And that was okay.

---

---

The first week in April, and Kaoru was temporarily free from work related homework. So Kenshin had driven her thirty miles out of the city and told her they were playing paintball. Now, Kaoru was covered in bright pink and yellow paint, but she'd finally found a hiding place where none of the teenagers they were playing with could shoot her. Her aim was fair, but their aim was scarily good. She hoped the Day-Glo-green paint would come out of the ends of her hair. She had to go to work tomorrow.

Pressing her eye to the peephole at the back of her hiding place, she spotted Kenshin stalking one of the teenagers. Kenshin was also a scarily good shot. And he was almost too agile. He was the only person she'd seen who hadn't been shot once so far. Well she'd fix that. Kaoru checked her glow-in-the-dark watch. Only two minutes left of this hell people called a game.

Kaoru aimed the muzzle of her paintball gun through the hole at Kenshin. He'd know what angle she was shooting from of course, so the instant after she shot, she'd have to leave her hiding place and make a run for it. Those teenagers would probably start shooting at her in point two seconds flat, but she was already covered in paint, so it was a small sacrifice to a greater good. There was no way she was staring at Kenshin's paint free face for the entire forty-five minute drive back to the city.

Kaoru took the shot. Then she bolted from her cozy hiding place and shot off like a rocket in the other direction. She wasn't too successful with the stealth and silence thing, because right away a couple teenagers started chasing her. A blob of yellow paint landed on the tree in front of her, right at eyelevel. That definitely would have hit her head. Kaoru put on a burst of speed and dove behind a giant tree trunk that had fallen almost directly across the path. Breathing hard, she checked her watch, only a minute left.

She summoned the courage to turn around and peek over the top of the giant rotting log, at the path she'd just run down. The teenagers were about twenty feet away, but they'd turned in the opposite direction and were busy shooting at someone else. She could pick them off from behind right now, but that was asking for it. Kaoru sat down on the ground and clutched her paintball gun. There was no way she'd ever let Kenshin take her here again. Simply no way!

Kaoru heard the teenagers run away and breathed a sigh of relief. They'd either taken out the other person, or been overwhelmed by the other person and decided to run away. Only thirty seconds now. A foot crunched the leaves behind her on the path. Kaoru froze. She was guessing the teenagers had been overwhelmed. She willed the seconds to tick by faster as the steps drew closer. If even the teenagers had run, she'd go down faster than an alcoholic at an open bar. There was no way she could bolt and make it behind a tree, either. The person was too close. Time itself was against her.

"Boo," Kenshin said.

Kaoru tilted her head up and there he was: grinning and nauseatingly paint free.

"This game has been TERMINATED," the recorded voice said over the speakers positioned throughout the fenced in paintball area.

Kaoru breathed a sigh of relief, took off her helmet, and ran a hand through her barely shoulder length hair. Big mistake. She'd forgotten her hand was still wet with yellow paint. "I can't believe I missed you!"

He raised an eyebrow. "So it was you that shot at me. Yeah, you missed by a couple feet, tipped off the kid I was stalking too."

Kaoru stood and started to climb back over the fallen tree trunk.

Kenshin whistled. "Wow. I think you're going to have to sit on garbage bags."

"Excuse me?"

"You're not getting in my car any other way with all that paint over you."

Kaoru jumped off the log and landed on Kenshin's side of the tree. "So why didn't you tell me to bring a change of clothes?"

"I didn't think you'd be so bad at running and hiding," Kenshin laughed. "Dinner in a restaurant before we get back, my treat, says out of everyone, you're the person who got hit the most."

Kaoru snorted. "Dinner in a restaurant, your treat, after I get back home, shower, and change, says I'm not."

A half hour later, Kaoru was the most colorful person at the local diner.

"No, no, I loved playing paintball," Kaoru assured the waitress who'd taken their order. The only thought that comforted her in her embarrassment was the hope that she'd never see any of these people again. But even if she did, they probably wouldn't recognize her.

"I hate you."

"Now, now. Is that any way to treat the man who's buying you dinner?"

"If this paint doesn't come out of my hair, you die."

"Well don't try to shoot me. I don't think that would work out for you," Kenshin replied mildly. "Hey, remember when I said I was dating again?"

Kaoru stopped obsessing over her hair. "You said you were dating again?"

"You don't listen to me?"

"I listen. You never said that."

"The first time you ever came over to work on applications, I said it was lucky for you that I didn't have a date that night."

"Oh yeah, you did say that," Kaoru remembered, glancing around guiltily for the waitress. She'd just gotten a smear of pink paint on the table cloth. "And I didn't take you seriously. So does this mean you were serious?"

"Yes, Kaoru, I was serious."

"But that was back in… February. You've been dating for almost two months and I didn't notice?" Kaoru leaned back in her chair, paint stains forgotten. "What kind of friend am I?"

"I did have a reason for bringing up this subject, so if you'd stop talking…"

"Oh, sorry."

"Anyway, I just wanted you to know that you can stop worrying about me now. I feel single."

"I wasn't worrying about you," Kaoru told him, a little puzzled, but a little thrilled just the same.

"You weren't?"

"Nope."

"Not even a little?"

"Not really," Kaoru fudged. It was true that she'd been busy with her job and trying to keep up with Megumi in her flurry of planning for the wedding, so she hadn't had as much time to think much about Kenshin. But of course she'd thought of him. He was her friend and little things reminded her of him: like Captain Crunch cereal because that was his favorite, the baking aisle in the grocery story, and small business owners. Yes: all small business owners.

But she hadn't outright lied, because she didn't worry about him nearly as much as she did Megumi or Sano. They both needed her right now and Kaoru was confident that Kenshin could take care of himself when she wasn't around.

"Well that's disappointing. I thought maybe that was the reason."

"The reason for what?" she asked.

"Er, nothing."

She felt disappointed. "Refusing to answer my questions does not make you any more mysterious or sexy, nor does it add to your appearance," Kaoru told him.

"So you admit that I am mysterious, sexy, and almost unbearably attractive?"

"Kenshin: I'm covered in paint because of you. You're not getting any compliments."

---

---

A week later they ate lunch in the college food court again.

"If I'd known my coworkers were going to like you this much, there's no way I would have brought you to work in the first place," Kaoru told him as she finished her taco salad.

"I can't help it. I'm entertaining."

"It's mainly, Linda, the counselor I share my office with."

"Your tiny office?"

"Yes," Kaoru said sarcastically, "My tiny office."

"So what does Linda have to do with it? I didn't meet her last time."

"That's the problem. The other counselors tease me about you and Linda feels left out of the loop. Her daughter's out of the house and married with a set of one year old twins. She lives in Oregon. I think Linda misses her and she's taking it out on me."

Kenshin raised an eyebrow. "Taking it out on you?"

Kaoru nodded vigorously. "Now that we don't have as much work to do, she spends her free time asking me about my weekend plans and who I'm dating. She's convinced I'm dating you – they all are. It's driving me crazy."

"I don't think I'd call that 'taking it out on you', but I do think my coming to visit again will only make it worse."

Kaoru nodded sadly. "But Linda's driving me crazy with guilt for waiting for a day when she read applications at home to have you drop by. And it's just us. Alone in a tiny office for eight hours a day, five days a week, minus lunch hour and bathroom breaks and staff meetings. We don't have enough staff meetings, but I've started drinking more water…"

"You look devastated."

"I am. I'd like to blame you, but it was my fault for inviting you in the first place. You have to go in there and win Linda over, Kenshin."

Kenshin leaned back in his chair. "You shouldn't have let me know it meant this much to you, because now it's going to cost you."

Kaoru accepted that. "How much?"

"One bottle of champagne, not cheap, and next Friday night."

"I was supposed to go out with Megumi to pick a location for the wedding reception."

Kenshin glanced at his watch. "Gee, look at the time. I might not be able to stop by your tiny office after all."

"Is seven o'clock alright?"

"Are you staying at least until ten?"

"Yes."

"Then, I guess I can make time to visit your coworkers again. And seven's fine."

Kaoru breathed a sigh of relief. Hell at work for the next three months until her coworkers forgot Kenshin existed, versus a bottle of champagne and three hours out of her Friday night. She was the first to admit that she hadn't spent enough time with Kenshin lately, and she'd already gone with Megumi to look at six different places for the reception. If Kaoru didn't go, Megumi would rope Sano into coming with her and he deserved it, considering the fact that he'd proposed.

"Don't worry. Linda's going to love me," Kenshin broke into her thoughts.

"She'd better."


	5. Champagne

**A/N-Thanks for putting up with the hitch in my updating schedule. This chapter is short, but I promise one of normal length in a couple days.**

**Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.**

**-**

**Grocery Store**

**- **

**Chapter 5 - Champagne  
**

**-**

Friday, Kaoru knocked on Kenshin's door with a bottle of champagne. Her hair had grown to a length two inches past her shoulders.

"It's open."

She turned the doorknob. Inside it smelled like heaven.

The smell of heaven is many things to many people, and for Kaoru it was food: pretty much any dish that she hadn't cooked. Kaoru smelled heaven a lot.

"I've come to serve my time," she told him as she shut the door behind her and walked down the hallway towards his voice.

"You're late," he said from the kitchen.

Kaoru glanced down at her watch. "By three minutes!"

"I was beginning to think you weren't going to show."

"There is no way you're that insecure," she told him, walking into the kitchen and spotting him standing over the stove, his back to her.

"You're right," he admitted. He sat down the ladle he'd been holding and turned to face her. For the first time in a long while she actually looked at him. He'd become familiar to her. In the past few months she'd seen him multiple times every week, but she'd stopped looking at him. Here in front of her were the violet eyes that had initially attracted her, the easy smile, the handsome features, and the infuriatingly great hair. She'd always been attracted to Kenshin, but she'd managed to shove that awareness of his physical self away and concentrate on his personality, which was easy, since he required her full attention in conversation. And then he'd kissed her.

Kenshin stepped forward and lifted the champagne bottle from her hands, scrutinizing it for a few moments.

Kaoru shook off her thoughts and rolled her eyes. Kenshin and his alcohol standards. He didn't drink often, but if he did, it had to be something expensive. She'd make him pay for that ridiculously expensive bottle of champagne somehow. Oh yes, he'd pay.

"Acceptable," he said, and moved around her to put the champagne bottle in the fridge.

Kaoru scoffed. "Just acceptable? Do you know how much that thing cost?"

"About the price of a pleasant work environment?"

Kaoru narrowed her eyes. "Linda's more trouble than she's worth."

Kenshin grinned and shrugged. "I thought she was nice."

It was easy now, easy to fall into their usual pattern of conversation. "For the record, I think she likes you more than her son-in-law, and I hear good things about him. You're like this female-attracting monster. I can't figure out why they're always all over you."

"I think you're forgetting to include yourself in that group."

Kaoru ignored him. "But the real miracle is that men don't hate you. I mean, if had this friend who just attracted men, all the time, twenty-four seven, nonstop being hit on left and right, one marriage proposal a day, five dates a week if she wanted, gifts from rich guys, I'd hate her. And yet, I don't think I'd want to be her."

"It's hard being popular."

"Don't even start."

Kenshin laughed. "Go on."

Kaoru sighed. "You ruined it."

"I did?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

Kaoru sighed again. "So what are we doing until ten o'clock?"

"Dinner in five," he said as he turned back towards the stove and adjusted the burner temperature. "Dessert. Champagne."

"I knew that. It's not going to take three hours."

"I figured you'd need three hours of my excellent company to get your weekly Kenshin fix."

Kaoru snorted, not dignifying that with a response. "So how'd your date with what's-her-name go the other day?"

"Nina?"

Kaoru frowned. "No. Liz. Who's Nina?"

"Just a woman I met at the conference a couple weeks ago," he said vaguely. "We've been out once or twice."

"How many women are you dating anyway?"

He switched off the burner and turned back around to face her. "None."

Kaoru blinked. "Come again?"

"I'm not dating any of them, just dating in general. I never ask them out more than twice."

"So now you're going around breaking as many hearts as possible, huh?" Men. Kaoru's hands came to rest on her hips. This pose had intimidated her younger brother while they were growing up. She doubted it would work on Kenshin, but what the hell it made her feel good.

"I'm not breaking anyone's heart. I'm waiting for the right woman to come to her senses."

"I don't see how she will, when you're dating half the available women in your age group."

He shrugged. "It's more like a fifth of the available and acceptable women in my age group. There's a clear distinction, Kaoru. And I'm not dating any of them."

"Yes, you are!"

"No, I'm not."

"But you are!"

"But I'm not."

Kaoru frowned and regarded him silently. He stared back, outwardly looking calm, as if they were discussing something as mundane as broccoli. He stood there in his dress shirt and slacks, looking perfectly rational and secure in the fact that he was right and she was upset over nothing. Well he was wrong, dammit. If some guy as hot as Kenshin asked her out on not one, but two dates and then no call, no nothing, not so much as a 'sorry it's not you it's me' she'd be hurt and pissed and miserable for a few days. But it was nothing to him, just an endless parade of Nina and Liz and Gina from last month repeating over and over in different bodies, in different personalities.

"I'm guessing you think I should stop," he said, no doubt taking in her flushed face. She could feel the red rushing to her cheeks, hell, she felt red right now.

"Whatever," she muttered, and left the kitchen for the sofa in the living room. She grabbed the remote control and started flipping channels. Sano had been a real player, before Megumi had killed that particular personality trait in him, but that it hadn't bothered Kaoru. She'd dismissed it as a childish fear of commitment, and waited for him to grow up. She wasn't attracted to Sano, so it hadn't mattered. But Kenshin was different. It wasn't a fear of commitment. She knew him. He was waiting for a specific woman. He'd mentioned this woman before, but never by name, and it was starting to drive Kaoru crazy, the guessing. And even if she wound up guessing right, she'd never know if she was right, unless the woman 'came to her senses'. And she was also upset because Kenshin had dared to kiss her while he was waiting for this woman to come around, as if she was another one of those women who meant so little to him.

Well Kenshin and his secrets could just go and –

"Why are you so pissy tonight?" he asked, bearing two glasses of the champagne she'd brought over.

Kaoru accepted a glass and took a giant gulp. Mmm. Good stuff. "I'm not pissy."

"How many times have I told you not to lie?" he asked, sitting down next to her. Their shoulders touched and Kaoru forgave him for slipping up and kissing her a month ago. She was being unreasonable about it, really, when he obviously wanted to be friends. That proved she meant something to him. She was sure he wouldn't have done it if he'd known how much it had hurt her feelings. If only she wasn't physically attracted to him – then this never would have been an issue.

"I know," she admitted, "I know, I know. I suck at lying."

"You know this, and yet you keep on doing it."

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Kaoru took another large swallow of her drink.

Kenshin shook his head. "I don't think they meant lying."

"I bet they did. I bet whoever said that quote laughs every time someone applies it to something good. It's a joke on the world."

"You're also unusually pessimistic tonight," Kenshin observed. "Is this PMS?"

"If it was would you run away screaming into the night?"

He considered for a moment. "Well, I live here, so I'm going to say no."

Kaoru finished off the last of her glass of champagne and sat it down on the end table beside the couch.

His eyes pointedly followed her glass. "That was quick."

It wasn't like she'd demanded a refill. Kaoru decided to suck it up and say what was on her mind before Kenshin forced it out of her. "I guess I just didn't think you had someone already."

"What?" he asked in surprise. She noticed he'd barely drunk a third of his champagne.

"I didn't think you had someone so permanent in your life. You know, spend-the-rest-of-your-life-with permanent. It took you so long to get your ex off your mind."

"She was practice for this woman."

He said it clearly, matter-of-factly, with full confidence that whoever the mystery woman was, he'd soon be living the happily ever after story. Not even Megumi and Sano talked like that. Kaoru fully expected their marriage to be pitted with war zones. Kenshin's simple assurance awed her.

"Wow."

He smiled serenely. "Yeah."

He looked at the television then, but Kaoru could tell he was really looking beyond it.


	6. Kid Arguments

**Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.**

**-**

**Grocery Store**

**- **

**Chapter 6 - Kid Arguments  
**

**-**

"Are you an only child?" she asked him on the last day of April. Her hair was three inches past her shoulder and she was thinking of cutting it again. It was an unusually warm Saturday and they'd taken one of Kaoru's rare free weekends to drive to the boardwalk in Atlantic City, NJ. Megumi and Sano had bailed out on them because of a wedding emergency. Two weeks until the big day and Kaoru figured Megumi's frantic planning and high-strung state of mind had to reach a plateau sometime, but it hadn't happened yet. 

"You know I have an older brother."

Kaoru took a sip of her lemonade. "But you never talk about him."

"That's because he frustrates me," Kenshin told her, threading an arm through hers as they walked along the boardwalk sipping lemonades.

Kaoru turned her face to the beach and the ocean beyond it. She wondered if Kenshin and his brother looked alike. "Where does he live?"

"Back home in Missouri. You don't care that I said he frustrates me?"

Kaoru rolled her eyes. "Why does he frustrate you, Kenshin?"

"That was insensitive."

Kaoru grinned. "I know."

"What's my life come to when you're the best friend I've got?" Kenshin pulled her to the right to avoid two harried parents trying to keep six children under control. They weren't having much luck.

"You've reached the apex of your life, Kenshin. It's all downhill from here."

"And you're supportive too."

Kaoru laughed. "Come on." She pulled her arm from his and grabbed his hand, leading him through the crowd to one of the exits off the boardwalk and onto the beach. She tossed her empty lemonade cup into the trashcan at the bottom of the ramp.

"Wait a sec." Kenshin took a last drag from the straw of his lemonade as she let go of his hand and walked towards the ocean. The sand was brown and littered with trash near the boardwalk, but cleaner closer to the ocean. Kaoru walked towards a group of seagulls clustered near the water and the noise from the crowd on the boardwalk dimmed. She could smell the ocean air clearer now, under the boardwalk smells of French fries and hamburgers and fried dough. She hadn't been to the shore in years.

Kenshin grabbed her wrist. "You didn't wait. You're not planning on abandoning me are you?"

Kaoru shook her head. "Thanks for convincing me to come, Kenshin." This was the best trip she'd taken all year, and they hadn't been in Atlantic City for an hour.

She knew he'd been about to fuss at her for leaving him, but instead his expression softened and he dropped his hand from her wrist. "You have a thing for stalking seagulls don't you?"

"What?"

He pointed straight ahead towards the gulls Kaoru had been walking towards.

Kaoru grinned. "Maybe." She walked towards the birds, which squawked and flew in twenty different directions. She was underneath the flock for a second and then she was past them and the waves ran over the edge of her sandals and up onto her toes - cold water in the spring. The tide was going out, so she walked out farther and the water covered her feet and wet the bottom of her jeans for two inches. But then a wave broke and rushed towards her and she ran back to avoid the water because it was only the last day of April and she wasn't sure how quickly her pants would dry.

"That seagull almost shit on me," Kenshin accused as he met her at the tide line. "I blame you."

The water ran back, pulling at the sand underneath her feet. Kaoru shifted to keep her balance. "Don't you like the beach, Kenshin?"

"It's fine, but I'd rather gamble in Atlantic City."

Kaoru rolled her eyes. "I'd have thought you'd love the beach. All those women in bikinis..."

He grimaced. "All those old women in bikinis. And topless beaches aren't all they're cracked up to be."

"You've been to a topless beach?"

"Yes. I think I went on 'take your grandmother to the beach' day. Sometimes I dream about it, and sometimes I have nightmares."

"You deserved it."

"Probably. I was young. When I thought of women, I thought of sex. The topless beach was sobering."

"And by sobering, you mean scarring."

"You know me too well," he said with a smile. They fell into step along the tide line in the same direction they'd taken on the boardwalk.

"Not well enough, since I didn't know your brother still lived in Missouri until today."

Kenshin had the grace to look guilty. "We're not close. Jellyfish."

Kaoru glanced down and spotted a pale brown one lying directly in her path. She smiled as she stepped over it. She'd never been stung yet. "Thanks. Did he get married or something?"

"No, but he's lived with the same woman for six years. She won't marry him, or he won't marry her." Kenshin shrugged. "I figure I don't want to know. Why the sudden interest in my brother?"

"Not in him," Kaoru corrected. "I've decided I'm going to figure you out. And what better way than through your family?" Which was easy to say walking alone with him across the wet sand, past the occasional group of seagulls and the vacationing families and the groups of gamblers taking breaks from the casinos that lined the boardwalk. Here they were surrounded by people, but knew only each other. They didn't do things alone very often. He brought her out with his friends, or she brought him out with her friends, except he and Sano hung out when she wasn't around. Their friendship mostly centered on sports.

"You're way more complicated than I am," Kenshin said.

"I am not."

"See? Whenever we start talking about something serious, you try to start a kid argument." He sounded a little too triumphant for Kaoru's taste.

"Kid argument?"

Kenshin demonstrated. "Yes you are. No I'm not. Yes you are. No I'm not." He changed the pitch of his voice for each side of the argument.

Kaoru cut him off. "I get the point."

"Good, because you just tried to start one of those kid arguments so I wouldn't tell you why you're complicated."

"I told you, I'm not complicated."

"You're doing it again."

"No I'm not!"

Kenshin raised an eyebrow and shot her a pointed look.

"Oh my God, I do avoid serious conversations." Or at least she avoided serious conversations with Kenshin.

"You do. Now are you going to let me talk or not?"

"I'm not going to like this."

He grinned down at her. "It'll be fun. I'll buy you ice cream afterwards."

"Chocolate?"

"Sure."

Kaoru sighed, resigned. "Go ahead."

"It's not a big deal," he said lightly. "Just observations. Like avoiding serious conversations. And you hate violence, but you love those movies where the characters get picked off one by one, by something outrageous like killer ants."

"They're fun!"

Kenshin reached over and touched his finger to her lips for a moment. "Your job runs your life from January to May and you have almost no free time, but you're in love with it. You love food, but you won't bother to learn how to cook. You hate fighting with your friends, but you taunt Megumi just so she'll take out her frustration on you instead of Sano. You're a romantic, but you push people away."

There was something about the moment, the way his voice had lowered for that last sentence, had quieted. The way he looked at her, his eyes and expression serious. He looked like he wanted to kiss her. She'd never thought she'd see that expression on his face again, but there it was. Breath caught in her throat and she watched as his eyelids slid shut. He lifted his finger from her lips, leaned in, but just then a wave washed over her feet, cold, and she jumped. The tide was coming in now. And she looked up and he was everyday Kenshin, as if the moment had never happened. Kaoru mentally shook herself. Nothing had almost happened.

"Larry," he said. She blinked at him in confusion, but his voice was normal again and he was looking at her like he always looked at her. She realized he had just accused her of pushing Larry away. Which was true.

"But he had fish lips!" she protested, relieved that he wasn't going to comment on what might or might not have just happened. Already it seemed like something that had happened to someone else. Her and Kenshin? It wasn't going to happen, even if she wanted it to.

"Seth. Adam. Arthur. Martin."

Kaoru was surprised he remembered. "Oh come on. You hated Martin."

"But there was nothing wrong with Adam," Kenshin pointed out.

"He was too perfect. It was a cover for something," Kaoru said, speaking confidently now. This was familiar, she could handle this conversation.

"And Seth?"

"He was way too insecure." Not like you, she added mentally. "I didn't have time to deal with his issues."

"Arthur?"

Kaoru tried to remember what had been wrong with Arthur, besides the fact that he was nowhere near as interesting as Kenshin. "There was nothing there. No chemistry. And he was a horrible dresser."

Kenshin sighed. "Seth dressed horribly, not Arthur."

Kaoru laughed. "Oh yeah. I get them confused." When everyone else paled in comparison to one person, dates got kind of blah. And just like that something switched in her and she wished she could go back to the moment that damn well _had_ happened.

---

---

In May, seven days before the wedding, he knocked on her door until she woke up and answered it.

"It's four in the morning."

Kenshin closed his eyes and held up a finger. "Still early, love. I have insomnia."

Kaoru snorted, not with her usual energy, but hey, she'd already been asleep for four hours. "You're tipsy."

"Not drunk though. Everyone else at the party was drunk. Really drunk. Can I come in?"

Kaoru raised an eyebrow. "Fine."

He kissed her awkwardly on the cheek as he passed her. His breath smelled like alcohol.

She watched as he made his way inside and down the hallway to the living room. He might have told the truth when he'd said he wasn't drunk. He could probably walk a straight line if he had to, but he never called her 'love' and he'd never knock on her door at four in the morning if he was sober. Kenshin was usually more considerate than that. Shaking her head, she locked the door behind him and followed him into the dark living room.

She flicked on the light. He was sprawled across two thirds of the couch. She sat across from him in the armchair, just in case he was drunker than he looked and he decided he had to puke. He didn't say anything, just stared at her through half closed violet eyes. She was still jealous of those eyes.

"Did Sano have a good time?" she asked when he still didn't say anything.

He shook his head and blinked repeatedly. "Best bachelor party I've ever been to." His words came out slower than usual. "He loved the stripper."

"Don't tell me anything I'll have to report to Megumi."

He grinned. "I'm not a fool, love, not a fool."

"Did you just call me 'love'?"

He tried to shake his head and nod at the same time and wound up looking ridiculous. "This guy in some movie says that to all the girls. I always thought it was cool. Kinda British-ish."

He grinned at her. Kaoru only stared at him. "Why are you here?"

His eyes widened. "The stripper told me to come, so here I am!"

Kaoru took a deep breath. "Kenshin, I want you to promise me you'll never be drunk in my presence again."

"I told you, I'm not drunk."

His head kept nodding up and down and she realized he was fighting off sleep.

"Lay down."

"Okay." He spread out on the couch on his side, facing her, his head resting on the pillow that rested on the armrest. Kaoru shook her head and stood to go and grab a couple blankets from the linen closet. It was best that he slept on her couch. He'd never make it to his apartment if she kicked him out, and there was no way she was walking him over there. Still – the stripper told him to come?

His eyes were almost closed when she walked back into the living room. He was staring blearily at his hand as if he'd never seen one before.

"Kenshin, close your eyes and go to sleep," Kaoru ordered with a yawn as she draped the sheets over him.

He sighed and closed his eyes. "My brother's coming to visit."

"Really? When?" Kaoru asked.

"Tomorrow," Kenshin said sleepily. His voice grew faint. "He's going to make my life hell..."

"He won't. I'm sure he'll only be happy to see you," Kaoru assured him, but he was asleep. She snorted. Some people had a lot of nerve, waking other people up at four in the morning because they were drunk and then falling asleep in the middle of a conversation. Even if such people were kind of cute drunk, it didn't give them an excuse. She glanced at Kenshin once, then turned off the light and went back to bed.


	7. Subconsciousness of Relationship

**Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.**

**-**

**Grocery Store**

**- **

**Chapter 7 - Subconsciousness of Relationship  
**

**-**

Two days later, five days before the wedding, they were in the mall.

"I still can't believe you came with me. Aren't you afraid of shopping with women?"

Kenshin threaded an arm through hers. "I know for a fact that Megumi made you shop for eight hours straight yesterday. You're sick of shopping. This trip isn't going to take long."

Kaoru wondered who'd told him about that. Probably Sano. "I'm only here to return this ridiculously short skirt Megumi made me get," Kaoru admitted, holding up the shopping bag she carried in her hand for a second. "There's no way I'm wearing this thing."

"I think you should try it on one more time before you return it. Let me check it out."

Kaoru blushed. "Go buy a playboy."

"Hot women in pictures versus a real live woman in front of me," Kenshin deliberated. "I think I'll go for the sexy woman in front of me," he concluded with a grin.

"I'm not trying the stupid thing on again. If Megumi hadn't bullied me after seven and a half hours of shopping with only one bathroom break, I never would have bought it in the first place."

"Just try it on one more time. I'm begging you."

"No. So stop asking. Why are you here anyway? Shouldn't you be spending time with your brother?" Kaoru asked in a see-through attempt to change the subject. But Kenshin apparently decided to let it slide.

"You mean you don't want me?" he asked with his best attempt at puppy dog eyes, which actually would have worked if she hadn't known him as well as she did.

But she did know him, so Kaoru just snorted. "You're a drama queen, you know that?"

He laughed and leaned into her for a few moments as they walked. It was comfortable, walking like this. With every step his body brushed against hers. And at the same time it wasn't comfortable, because she wanted to grab Kenshin's hand and thread her fingers through his but she didn't dare. She wanted him to slide an arm around her waist and pull her close and kiss her cheek every so often as they walked along, which would be ridiculously sappy, yet fulfilling. But she didn't dare initiate anything and lose him as a friend. She couldn't lose this thing they had.

His voice broke into her thoughts. "It's the only way to get your attention."

"You don't need my attention with your brother around."

He sighed and turned his face to scan the stores as they walked past, "My brother is trying to run my life. Hiroshi came out here because he thinks I need an intervention. Well I do need one – from him."

Kaoru shrugged. "I liked him when I met him yesterday."

"Everyone likes Hiroshi – at first," Kenshin said darkly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means he's cruel and sadistic and he lives only to torment me. He probably followed us here. I shouldn't have let him take my car this morning."

Kaoru raised an eyebrow and decided to reserve judgment on Kenshin's brother for now. "Finally! There's the skirt place," Kaoru said, pointing to a shop two stores down from where they now stood. "Damn. I should have parked on this side of the mall."

"No, you chose the perfect parking spot. I need to be away from my apartment for as long as possible."

"You may have some issues," Kaoru told him, and would have kept walking if he hadn't grabbed her hand and stopped while she kept walking, resulting in her being jerked to a stop. "What?"

"We're going in this store."

Kaoru followed the direction of his eyes. "Huh?"

"We're trying on the boyfriend trouser."

Kaoru blinked. "What?"

He pointed at the display in the window. It featured a happy couple dressed in identical white shirts. The guy was wearing his boxers and the woman was wearing a pair of loose khakis.

"In the commercial, they share the same pair of pants," Kenshin explained. "That's why it's called the boyfriend trouser. I want to see if I can fit it."

Kaoru raised an eyebrow. "You do know that they don't sell those pants for men, right?"

He shrugged. "I know. I just want to see if it's false advertising or not."

"And you're not my size, or my boyfriend."

"Details, Kaoru. Details." He pulled her into the store.

And that was how Kaoru found herself crammed into a changing room stall in the mall with Kenshin Himura.

"Okay. Try them on," he said.

"Shh," Kaoru hissed. "This is the women's changing room."

"There's no one else in here right now. I checked," he said, but he lowered his voice to a whisper.

"How did you avoid the girl at the entrance?"

He tapped his head with a finger and winked. "I'm smart."

"There's probably a camera at the entrance too."

"Well I guess whoever watches the camera's video looked away at the right moment."

The sound of footsteps grew louder over the overhead music of the store and a group of chattering women entered the fitting room.

"If they see two sets of feet, you're dead," Kaoru said. Kenshin took the hint and hopped up onto the bench. "Why are you in the same stall as me anyway?"

He shrugged. "It's more fun that way, and you actually let me in."

"That was my fault," she admitted.

"So, you first?" he asked, watching her expectantly from his perch atop the bench.

"Hold my purse," Kaoru ordered, shoving it up at him. He took it readily enough. She hesitated with her hands at the waist of her jeans.

"I've seen you in a bikini," he reminded her, apparently reading her mind. It was annoying when he did that. She didn't like to think she was that easy to figure out. But it was also one of the things she liked about him. She was glad she'd shaved her legs last night. What the hell. You only live once.

"I know," she said, and pulled down her jeans, tossed them on the bench next to him, and pulled up the boyfriend trousers. "See? They fit. Your turn."

"Okay." He kicked off his shoes and she glared at him for the noise while she took off the boyfriend trousers and he took off his jeans. Then she realized they were both standing there without any pants on and burst out laughing. He put a hand over her mouth and the music mostly covered the sound, so Kaoru figured it was okay.

"What's so funny?" he asked, standing there in blue striped boxers. But then he started laughing too and this time she had to cover his mouth and pretend to cough to cover his laugh, because she didn't want to get kicked out of a store in the mall when she was long past her teenage years and should know better. His breath was hot against her hand.

"I didn't really think you'd go for it," he admitted in a whisper once they were both semi-serious again.

"Why?" she whispered back as she gave him the boyfriend trousers.

"You're modest."

"I am?"

"The only reason I saw you in a bikini was because Megumi made you wear it. And the whole reason we're here is so you can return a skirt you thought was too short."

"But that's a prostitute skirt, Kenshin."

"True. These pants really aren't working. Your waist is too small."

"You sound so bitter."

"I've been lied to by a big corporation," he said sadly, pulling the boyfriend trousers off again.

"I'm sorry."

"You didn't put your pants on yet," he observed. "Can you please try on the skirt?"

Kaoru rolled her eyes. "No."

"But I can see way more of your legs now," he pointed out, reaching for his jeans.

Kaoru reached for hers. "No. I refuse to fulfill every wish that comes into your head."

Kenshin pulled her skirt out of the bag. "I'll cook you dinner."

"You'd do that anyway."

"I'll even buy the alcohol this time."

"You're the one that wants it, not me."

"And I'll never knock on your door at four in the morning again," he added. "Unless it's really important."

"And you're not drunk."

"And I'm not drunk. I'll never get drunk at a bachelor party again."

Kaoru sighed. "Okay." She sat her jeans on the bench and took the skirt that Kenshin held out to her. She was going to get Megumi for this. After the wedding of course, once Megumi was back from her honeymoon and had gotten comfortable. Then, oh yes, then, Kaoru would strike. She pulled the zipper up on the side of the skirt.

"You can't take back this skirt," Kenshin declared in a whisper. He zipped up his jeans and buttoned the top.

"Yes I can. It's slutty."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

"You're doing the kid argument thing again."

"You started it."

"Yeah."

"Stop staring at my legs. I can practically see your slow mental processes."

"Can you spin around once or something?"

"Kenshin!"

"Fine. You can take it off now."

"I don't need your permission," Kaoru grumbled, unzipping the skirt and sliding it down her legs. Dropping the skirt back in the bag she looked up and followed the direction of his gaze. "Couldn't you be more covert about it?"

"I'm only a man."

"Isn't there some other woman you're supposed to be trying to win over?" Kaoru hinted, remembering he was supposed to be in love with someone else. It was strange how much her consciousness liked to forget that fact.

Kenshin shook his head. "No other woman."

Kaoru zipped up her jeans and decided he wasn't rational, so she slipped into her shoes and picked up the bag with the skirt in it, her purse, and the pair of boyfriend trousers that she definitely wasn't going to buy. "I'll go first and distract the girl at the entrance so you can come out. You're on your own with the people in the changing rooms."

And that was how she found herself laughing at the poster of the boyfriend trouser in the window. She and Kenshin walked through the mall in the direction they'd come after dropping off the too short skirt.

"I'm never going to be able to walk in that store without remembering this," Kenshin said.

"Me either."

"Why are women's waists so small anyway?" he asked, and slid an arm around her waist.

Kaoru just shrugged and leaned into him. They kept walking.

---

---

Wednesday night he knocked on her door and she let him in.

"My brother really is driving me crazy. Can I have a hug?"

"Sure," Kaoru said, reaching up and sliding her arms around his neck as his encircled her waist. He pulled her closer and sighed into her hair. Air blew gently across her scalp.

Kenshin pushed the door shut behind him with his foot. "You locked the bottom already?"

"Yeah."

"Good. I don't think he knows where you live, but just in case." He lifted a hand from her waist and pulled lightly on a lock of her hair. "You're my sanctuary."

She laughed and pulled back to look at his face. He looked a little frantic, but he was serious. "What did he do this time?"

"He's already reorganized my entire CD collection. He traded in the ones he thought I didn't like for CDs I hate. He organizes everything."

"It can't be that bad."

Kenshin's eyes widened in indignation and he let go of her to stand back a step. "My closet is now organized by color. My underwear is in alphabetical order by brand, dark to light. My bedroom is so organized that I can't find anything. He started on the kitchen this afternoon," Kenshin said darkly. "After that he'll start cleaning."

"Think he'll drop by my apartment?"

"Kaoru," Kenshin said calmly. "Hiroshi went through my underwear."

Kaoru shrugged. "Just tell him not to, or don't leave him alone."

Kenshin shook his head. "That's the worst part. He's not doing it on purpose. He actually means well. He tells embarrassing stories about me in public that mostly have to do with him changing my diapers, but he does it because he loves me." Kenshin slouched past her and threw himself face first down on her couch. "Why, God? Why?"

"Your life is so hard," Kaoru commented dryly.

Kenshin nodded into the couch and pushed himself up. "And the worst part is, I feel guilty. I want to like Hiroshi, he's my brother. I try to tolerate him, especially since we don't see each other very often, but it never works. I'm a shitty person." He let himself fall back onto her couch.

Kaoru was shocked. Kenshin didn't usually express self-doubt. He was poise and confidence and charisma. She'd had no idea that the reason why Kenshin dreaded his brother was that he felt guilty, that he felt remorse for failing to connect with Hiroshi. She'd thought his brother actively messed with his head on purpose. Wasn't that what older siblings did once in a while? What all siblings did?

Kaoru sat down on the couch next to Kenshin's prone form. He was taking up the entire couch, so she had to nudge him over a little with her hip.

"You're not a shitty person."

He made a muffled noise into the couch cushion and didn't bother to move.

"You love Hiroshi, even if you don't like him."

He made a slightly louder noise that she took as an affirmative.

"No one ever said you have to like your family, as long as you love them." She wondered how he was breathing with his face so firmly planted in the couch cushion.

He lifted his face up for a moment. "But I used to like him." Back down.

"Why don't you take him to the baseball game tomorrow night? Maybe he'll loosen up. It sounds like he's only trying to make you happy, Kenshin."

Kenshin pulled his face from the couch and moved off his stomach so that he was sitting next to her on the couch. "I don't want him to make me happy. I want him to stop driving me crazy."

"Tell him that at the baseball game. I don't think his feelings are as fragile as you think they are."

Kenshin frowned and shook his head. "But you don't know Hiroshi."

"Kenshin, no one wants to clean their little brother's apartment on their vacation," Kaoru said flatly. "You," she poked him on his leg, "should have taken off work this week too. Hiroshi doesn't know this city and he's probably not the type to sit around and watch TV all week, so there's nothing else for him to do but clean. And then you get back home from work and you're tired, so he can't ask you to go anywhere. And then you hang out with me instead of him," Kaoru realized, and poked him again. "You're taking your brother to that game."

Kenshin just blinked at her for a moment, and then he grinned. "You know I love you, don't you?"

Kaoru felt a thrill go through her whole body, and slowly, she grinned back. "Yeah. Now go take your brother out to dinner. And bring Sano along. He's getting a little twitchy now that the wedding's so close."

Kenshin jumped up from the couch and saluted her. "Yes, ma'am. Can I drive you to work tomorrow morning?"

Kaoru raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"So I can pick you up."

Kaoru contemplated this for a moment. "Well, I'll save on gas money, so yes."

He waved before he left.

Kaoru threw herself down on the couch, mirroring the position Kenshin had almost smothered himself in a minute ago. He'd said he loved her.

---

A/N - Hiroshi means 'generous'. I read somewhere that Kenshin had brothers who died of cholera, so this is one of them.


	8. Happy

**Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.**

**-**

**Grocery Store**

**- **

**Chapter 8 - Happy  
**

-

Thursday morning he braked for a red light four blocks from her work. Kaoru glanced at her watch. Ten minutes before eight thirty. She'd be on time. 

"Last night went well," Kenshin told her. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of a classic hip hop song. This was how he woke up on work days: fast lyrics, infectious beats. The first few minutes of him driving, before the music had its effect, had been unsettling. He'd driven normally, but she'd known, simply by looking at him in profile, that his mind was on autopilot.

"Sano started flipping out about the wedding," Kenshin continued, "so none of Hiroshi's attention was actually on me."

Kaoru froze in the act of reaching for her purse, which was on the floor between her feet. "Sano's supposed to be happy to get married. If he gets cold feet I'm knocking him unconscious and dragging him to the altar," she said darkly. "He's not getting out of marrying Megumi."

"Relax," Kenshin said. His voice was soothing, and in spite of herself, she did relax. The song on the radio ended and a commercial came on. Kenshin stopped tapping out the beat with his fingers and turned the volume down a little. "My brother calmed him down. Hiroshi told Sano that his girlfriend won't let him marry her because she doesn't ever want to get divorced, so after six years of living together, she's still not sure she'll stay in love with him, and she'll probably never be sure, so they'll never have kids or get tax exemptions. Sano can't wait to marry Megumi now."

"Did he care more about the kids or the tax exemptions?"

Kenshin was silent for a moment, and instead of worrying about Sano's response, which she should have been doing as Megumi's best friend, she wondered if Kenshin cared more about kids or tax exemptions. "I'm pretty sure it was the kids. Sano wants kids."

Men usually wanted kids. Kaoru wondered if Kenshin wanted kids. Hell, she wondered if she wanted kids. Kids had always been this vague idea that had loomed somewhere in her future. Far in her future, as in not an actual possibility. Wondering if she'd ever have kids was like wondering if she'd ever win the lottery. She never played the lottery, but one of these days she might. She tried not to develop a mental image of the children Megumi and Sano would create. The worst part was that she knew she'd be the babysitter.

Then the story Hiroshi had told Sano really sank in and her eyes widened. "I'm sorry about your brother."

The light turned green and Kenshin started the car moving again. "It's okay. Hiroshi made most of it up, but Sano believed him, and that's the important part. There even was one ten minute period during dinner when Hiroshi didn't drive me crazy. You know, I think he does do it on purpose."

Kaoru was glad to get her mind of the subject of children. "Are you two still going to the baseball game tonight?"

"Yeah. I'm not going to risk disobeying one of your direct orders."

Kaoru laughed. "You've learned well, Kenshin."

"Well you are a black belt. I try not to mess with black belts."

"Especially physically intimidating ones."

Kenshin took his eyes off the road for a moment to glance doubtfully at her. "Yeah…"

Kaoru laughed again and they were silent for the last few minutes of the trip. Having Kenshin drive her to work meant she didn't have to park in the employee lot, which was a good five minute's walk to campus on a sunny spring morning. But this morning was overcast and drizzling, although the weather was supposed to clear up by the afternoon. She wouldn't have enjoyed walking in the rain.

Kenshin drove the car to a stop at the curb beside the administrative building where her office was located, which was set a good thirty yards back from the road. The drizzle was a faint mist drifting through the air, too light to cause any real damage to her hair or the skirt suit she wore.

"Thanks, Kenshin. You know what time to pick me up, right?" she asked as she got out of the car, trying to ignore the thrill she felt at the thought that Kenshin was picking her up in that Mazda sports car that she'd still trade for her car.

"Five. I'll try not to be late."

"Good. I'll see you then," she said, and waved a little before she shut the car door and turned to walk to the building. Ten steps and she shifted her purse to a more comfortable position on her shoulder. Kenshin had never driven her to work before. Fifteen steps and she hoped Linda wasn't looking out the office window, because then she'd bug Kaoru about Kenshin again and Kaoru wasn't in the mood for that because there was nothing for Linda to bug her about. She hadn't minded when there wasn't anything before, and that was the difference between then and now. Now she did mind, and she was growing exasperated with herself because she couldn't take one of the million opportunities she had to just reach over and kiss Kenshin. Twenty steps.

She couldn't do it unless she absolutely positively knew Kenshin wasn't going to freak out, and sure it seemed like he liked her as more than a friend, but what if it was all in her head?

"Kaoru, wait a minute," she heard Kenshin yell from behind her.

She turned around in time to see him shut his car door and jog over. He was on his way to work himself, so he was wearing a suit, charcoal gray. She loved men in suits. Why did men have to look so good? Why did Kenshin have to look so good?

She forced herself to ask a rational question. "Did I leave something in the car?"

"No," he said as he came to a stop in front of her and just stood there.

She began to feel uneasy. Was that it? Was she afraid of a real relationship? Hell yes, she was afraid of a real relationship. She was quivering in her boots… er, heels. Scared. Scared. Scared. Scared to come out of her little world of denial and start living. Scared to trust Kenshin. God, she had issues.

The look on his face was intense concentration, as if he'd heard every word that went through her head. That was silly. Kenshin couldn't read minds. But he was a compassionate person. He'd probably put himself in her place a thousand times. He didn't know what she was thinking, but he certainly knew what she was feeling.

Kaoru realized that she was standing there like a deer caught in headlights, probably sending out the strongest 'don't come any closer or I'll scream' vibes in the entire tri-state area. And that was ridiculous, because this was Kenshin Himura, for God's sake, and he'd become as close a friend as Megumi, and the last thing Kaoru wanted him to do was stay away.

So she let go of both the breath she'd been holding and her horrible commitment issues, for the moment at least, and the result was that she relaxed. And that felt so nice that she sent out a last prayer to God and put her trust in the man standing in front of her.

"Is everything alright, Kenshin?" she asked with a smile that was completely genuine and nothing like the half anticipating–half fatalistic gaze she knew had been on her face when he'd almost kissed her at the beach.

His violet eyes narrowed a little. He'd caught the change in her, although he didn't know what had changed or why it had changed. "Just… have a good day at work."

She looked down at his hand. All she had to do was reach out and take it, and then… Well, then he'd know. She reached out, but he brought his hand up and tilted her chin up. Startled, she met his eyes. If he didn't have those surprising violet eyes, maybe none of this would have ever happened. Maybe if he'd had blue eyes, or green eyes, or brown eyes she wouldn't have smiled at him in the grocery store. Maybe if he'd had gray eyes she wouldn't be standing here, practically aching for their second kiss. He let his hand drop from her chin, but otherwise they both stood motionless.

Just do it, her inner voice screamed in frustration, so she kissed him or he kissed her and the stereotypical sparks flew and the fireworks went off along with all the bells and the whistles. And the crazy thing was, she wasn't even _touching_ him, and he wasn't touching her, except for their lips. She had to pull back first because she hadn't breathed since he'd told her to have a good day at work.

But Kenshin didn't know that, so of course he took it the wrong way, she could tell by the way his body tensed next to hers, but then she kissed him this time and he relaxed and pulled her close and the noisemakers went off in her head again and she felt way more turned on than she had in a long time. This wasn't an awkward first kiss, and it wasn't a second, and she swore that kissing Kenshin got better and better the longer it lasted, but after a while she didn't know because she couldn't really _think_ anymore.

"Kaoru, I –"

But then about twenty car horns beeped because Kenshin's car was blocking half the road and she realized they'd probably been beeping for a while.

He laughed and let her go only to reach out and grab her wrist. He looked at her watch. "You're late."

Had she mentioned before how much she loved his voice? She laughed too, because she was happy and there was nothing else to do. "You're going to be late."

"I know," he said, and smiled at her as he released her wrist. "I'll be here at five."

"Okay," she said, and he kissed her again, sweet and quick and everything she'd been missing out on.

"See ya," he said, his voice low and sexy and Kenshin, and he turned and walked back to his car. For his sake, she hoped none of the people beeping their horns had road rage, and apparently none did, because he yelled "sorry", and gave her a last look before he got in his car and drove away. And that was it.

Kaoru turned around and faced the administrative building where she worked and saw Linda standing there, grinning. Kaoru had finally given her something to gossip about. Linda could grin all she wanted, and the whole building would think Kaoru and Kenshin were engaged by ten a.m., but that was fine, because distractions would make five o'clock come faster, and she couldn't wait to see Kenshin again.

---

---

At five oh nine when she walked to the door, he was standing outside with his back to her and the nerves and the uncertainty came flooding back. He was nervous too, because he was holding a cigarette in his left hand. Unlit. He turned it over in his fingers, and then over again.

She stopped with her hand on the metal bar and looked at him for a moment through the glass door. He was tense. If he'd been regular Kenshin, he wouldn't have bummed a cigarette off one of his coworkers. They all smoked at his company; it was a wonder that he hadn't started smoking again when he started working there. She wasn't about to let him start now.

She pushed open the glass door and Kenshin turned around, saw her.

"Hey," she said. "Sorry I'm late."

He shoved the cigarette in his pants pocket. "No problem. I just got here."

And then they just stood there for a moment. He'd smiled when he first saw her, but it had been strained, and now the smile faded altogether. What was wrong? What was wrong? She'd been waiting for this moment all day and now there was something wrong. She fought down the urge to panic.

"How was work?" she asked when she realized it was her turn to say something.

"Not my best day. I was distracted," he said, and then froze up, probably because they both knew perfectly well why he'd been distracted. The whole conversation was disappointing and frustrating, because he kept looking at her like she was supposed to do something. Kaoru had no clue what that something was, and this was Kenshin: he wasn't going to give her hints. Apparently, he was going to stand there and watch her warily, as though she might flip out on him any moment. She would if he kept acting like this.

"That's nice," she said absentmindedly while she thought furiously, or tried to think furiously. Damn it all, this was precisely the reason she hadn't kissed him before. Did Kenshin think that this morning had been a horrible mistake? He'd had over eight hours to think about it. Was that the conclusion he'd come to? If it was, could she live with that? Maybe. If they could get past this awkward conversation. She knew she didn't understand men, but she'd thought she understood Kenshin. And so, God had informed her that she was wrong again.

"I'm parked over there," he said, and pointed.

No, no. This was not happening. She wasn't going anywhere until she figured this out.

She watched Kenshin turn to walk to the car, assuming she was following. Not following was only going to make things more awkward, make her think quicker before he started asking her what was wrong and then there'd be no way she could think.

He realized she wasn't following, stopped, and turned around. "Kaoru?"

Why? Why? This hadn't happened the first time they'd kissed. There hadn't been an awkward conversation; they'd simply finished watching the movie.

"Kaoru?" he asked again, and took a couple hesitant steps towards her.

If he wanted to take it all back, then there was no way she was getting in the car with him. She'd ask Linda to drop her off, and then she'd face Kenshin tomorrow. How was she supposed to fix this?

"I left my phone in the office," she said abruptly, and turned and fled back inside the building. How the hell was she supposed to fix this? She felt a little sick to her stomach now, and made an abrupt left turn to shoulder her way into the women's bathroom. There was a little waiting room before the actual bathroom, so she sat down on the couch.

She listened for a moment. She was alone. She sighed and let her purse fall on the couch cushion next to her. The sick feeling in the pit of her stomach didn't go away.

Kenshin burst in through the door.

Kaoru stood up in a hurry. "What are you doing here?" She wasn't ready for this yet. Just a few more seconds, that's all it would've taken.

He stopped a few steps inside the door. "I'm following you." He was frowning and his eyes were narrowed and he stood entirely too still. "What's wrong with you today?"

"Me?" And like a switch, he'd turned her temper on. "You're the confusing one! You didn't even look happy to see me."

He looked at her incredulously. "I smiled. I told you it didn't matter that you were late. That's happy."

"You didn't mean any of it," Kaoru told him, and strode forward and shoved her hand down his pants pocket.

He was too shocked to do anything but stare at her with those wide, violet eyes. She pulled her hand out and held up the cigarette between them. "This isn't happy."

When she dared to look up at him, he was staring at the cigarette. He didn't deny it, just stood there for a few seconds. Then he reached up and took it from her hand. She watched him put it back in his pocket. Then she gave up.

"Just say it, Kenshin."

Silence.

"Say what?"

She wanted to look up at him, but she didn't want to see his reaction, didn't want to see any relief. She kept her eyes trained on the floor. "Tell me to forget about this morning, and I will. I'll do it." I'll try, she added to herself.

"Is it easier for you that way?" He sounded angry. But anger was fine. Anger, she could handle.

She met his eyes. "This isn't easy for me."

He shook his head, closed his eyes for a moment. Then he opened them and focused on her. "Then forget it, okay?"

Kaoru nodded. She was going to cry in a few seconds. "I'll get a ride with Linda." Her voice was steady, but she could feel her eyes start to tear.

He turned away just as her eyes welled up and the first few tears slid down her face, but it didn't matter because he never looked back before he left.


	9. The Wedding

**A/N - Sorry this chapter came out late. I had it written a few days ago, but then the site wouldn't let me upload a file until today. Cheers!  
Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin.**

**-**

**Grocery Store**

**- **

**Chapter 9 - The Wedding  
**

-

The next night, Friday, the night before the wedding, Kaoru walked into the laundry room in the basement of their apartment building. Then she ran back out again because she'd seen Kenshin. His back had been turned to her as he took out his clothing from the dryer.

He hadn't called her.

She hadn't dared call him. She'd gone to his apartment earlier, but she hadn't been able to knock on the door.

Now she stood in the basement hallway with her basket of dirty clothes and she was suddenly breathing hard. Kaoru sat her laundry basket on the floor and blinked rapidly, but drops of stray liquid slid down her face. She wiped them away. There was no way she was walking in there. She'd come back in half an hour. By then he'd be gone. She picked up her laundry basket and tiptoed past the door, glanced in. Kenshin had almost finished pulling his clothes from the dryer.

All she had to do was hurry to the elevator and go up to her floor before he finished. She hadn't told Megumi about the situation between her and Kenshin. The wedding was tomorrow and Megumi couldn't take anymore stress. Kaoru hoped to avoid Kenshin at the wedding reception. If she got this worked up just seeing his back, she dreaded what would happen when she saw him face to face.

The elevator hadn't come yet. Kaoru frowned. Kenshin would walk out the door of the laundry room soon.

She wondered if he'd told the woman he was in love with how he felt. She'd thought, for a while there, that'd he'd moved on. But no. Kaoru should have told him to be honest with the woman a long time ago. Then none of this would have happened. Kaoru had been so happy for eight and a half hours; apparently too happy for fate to allow. Damn fate. She'd also started swearing a lot more than she usually did.

The elevator door opened. She heard someone step out of the laundry room. Had Kenshin been the only person in the laundry room? She couldn't risk turning around to look.

Kaoru stepped into the elevator and pressed number ten for her floor. She hid in the left corner of the elevator so the person in the hallway wouldn't be able to see her face, only the side of her clothes basket.

"Hold the elevator, please."

Shit. That was Kenshin's voice.

She pressed the 'door close' button. She'd have to spend hours looking at him tomorrow, but at least there'd be people around. She wouldn't be alone with him if she could help it. The door closed agonizingly slowly.

"Hold the elevator!" he said again, alarmingly close.

Kaoru held the button down and prayed, because if he managed to get in the elevator she'd die of mortification on the spot.

The door closed and the elevator rose. Yes. God did love her.

---

---

It was Saturday afternoon, and being the maid of honor was wonderful. She got a front row seat to the wedding. The best part was that Kenshin wasn't in the ceremony. He sat somewhere behind her. She'd seen the back of his head when she'd walked into the church on the best man's arm. Kenshin was the only redhead in the room. When the time had come for the best man to go right and Kaoru to go left, she'd had to face the seated guests, but Kenshin was seated on the groom's side and she was facing the bride's side. She'd kept her eyes directly on the guests in front of her and kept up a smile. She hadn't let her eyes stray farther to the left than the aisle.

Megumi was beautiful. Sano was handsome. They both looked a little scared at first, but now Megumi at least was serene. Sano kept grinning. The church was decked out according to Megumi's sophisticated taste. Kaoru's dress was actually flattering. The best man was hot. And yet there was no one in the room but her and Kenshin.

Even turned to face the altar, she sensed him behind her. He probably wasn't even looking at her. He was probably still disgusted with her, probably still angry. It hadn't been forty-eight hours since their fight and Kaoru already wanted nothing more than to have things right between them. When he'd mistakenly kissed her, Kenshin must have looked at her and saw the woman he loved. Kaoru wasn't her, could never be her. He couldn't help it, really, loving her. The least Kaoru could do was sit back and let him do it.

She'd just have to be on her guard, and that was all. She'd have to concentrate, make the wedding her whole world. And when it was over and the bride and the groom and all the people in the wedding party lined up to shake hands with everyone else, she'd handle it. Because there was no way she was going to cast the slightest dark shade on Megumi's wedding.

---

---

It was later Saturday afternoon and somehow Megumi had shoved Kaoru in Kenshin's car before hopping blithely into a limo with Sano. Kaoru hadn't been able to bring herself to simply open the car door and get out again.

Megumi was too perceptive for her own good.

Now they sat silently in Kenshin's car, driving towards the wedding reception. The scenery through the passenger window had never been so interesting.

Tree after tree went by and Kaoru forced herself to keep her senses tuned to the view and the songs on the radio, not the smell of Kenshin's cologne or the feel of the leather seat of the car under her fingers. That simply brought to mind the person to whom the car belonged. She was supposed to be happy. Her best friend was finally married to the man she loved, to a good man.

Kaoru had never had to pretend around Kenshin before. It wasn't working very well. The content smile she'd managed to pull off during the ceremony wouldn't make an appearance again no matter how hard she tried. If he happened to glance over, he'd see that she was miserable. She wished it was Thursday morning again, or even better, Wednesday night. She wanted a do-over. Kenshin sat right next to her, but he was as unattainable as her childhood dream of skydiving into cotton candy clouds.

"Do you remember if it's a right or a left here?" he asked. He was leading the caravan of wedding guests to the reception hall.

"Left." She'd been to the hall a few times with Megumi to pick out silverware and furniture. Megumi had made sure Kaoru could drive there in her sleep.

"Thanks."

Was this how they were going to spend their lives until she got another job, or until he moved away? She wasn't planning on getting another job, but what if Kenshin moved back to Missouri? What if Hiroshi's visit had made him want to be home again, where he'd be close to the support network his family provided?

She bit her lip and turned her head to look at Kenshin. His eyes remained focused on the road. He absently tapped out the beat of the song on the radio on the steering wheel. Kenshin might leave. He wasn't attached to his job. In Missouri, he'd make friends easily; and he loved his family, despite the fact that they frustrated him. Yes, he might leave, and they'd still be like this, as far apart as if they stood on opposite sides of the railroad tracks with a never-ending train passing between them.

She traced her eyes over his profile, tried to memorize what she already knew. Red hair, violet eyes, fine features. He looked like his brother.

He made a left turn into the parking lot and glanced over, caught her looking. Her face burned, but the car was still in mid-turn so he looked away again. He parked at the edge of the lot. She wondered how long he planned on staying. Would she see much of him again after tonight?

"Did you mean it?" she blurted.

He turned off the car engine and kept his gaze steady on his hand at the ignition. "I meant it." He unbuckled his seatbelt.

Kaoru sighed and unbuckled hers. She felt whatever small hope she'd had left dwindle. Most of the cars drove past them to park closer to the reception hall, but a few pulled into the spots near them. "I'd hoped you didn't." The words drifted unbidden from her mouth.

He turned his head sharply and met her eyes. "What?"

The intensity in his violet gaze startled her. Kaoru forced herself to swallow. "Never mind," she said louder.

He blinked in confusion. "I thought this was what you wanted, like last time." He had heard her.

"Last time?" she echoed.

He glanced away. "The last time I kissed you."

Was that it? Had Kenshin thought she'd push him away again once she had eight hours to think about it? If that was true, then all she'd had to do was smile and take his hand.

"I want to be able to talk to you," she said.

He wouldn't look at her. "You told me to leave."

"You wanted to go." He wasn't going to blame all this on her.

He snorted. "This is just like you."

"Excuse me?"

"Making the wrong assumptions," he said. "And refusing to make others."

"I don't do that."

"Yes, you do. If it doesn't fit in your little world view, then it's not happening. For what it's worth, I don't think you do it on purpose." His eyes forgave her for something she knew she hadn't done.

"What false assumptions have I ever made?"

"How about the one where I'm in love with some random woman you've never met?"

"That's not an assumption," Kaoru pointed out. "You said you were."

"I never said that."

"But-"

"You assumed. You were wrong."

That silenced her reply.

"I can't decide whether you've got low self-esteem," Kenshin continued, "or a fear of relationships."

"So what are you going to do? Sit here and insult me until you figure it out?"

He met her eyes. "I think it's both. I don't know what happened to make you feel that way, but I think it's both."

"Oh. So suddenly you're the authority on relationships? You? Mr. 'oh, if I don't ask them out for more than two dates, then it's not dating.' Please."

"I never said I was Dr. Phil, but I know you, Kaoru. I've spent at least an hour a day with you all year."

"That doesn't mean you know me. What do you want me to say? That you're right? That you're wrong? That isn't going to change anything."

"I do know you. That's why I was so worried Thursday afternoon. I knew you were going to shove me away again."

"I wasn't going to do anything!" Kaoru denied hotly. He started a little and she knew she'd caught him off guard. "Have you ever stopped to think that maybe you're the one making the wrong assumptions? You don't know me as well as you think, Kenshin. You're sitting here convinced that it's your duty to save me from myself, from my low self-esteem and my fear of relationships and my 'little world view'. But I've lived just fine for two and half decades with those handicaps. I've thrived. So don't sit there and tell me there's something wrong with me."

Kaoru opened the car door and left.

---

---

She made it halfway across the parking lot before he called her name. She kept walking. He said "Kaoru" again and her hold on her anger started to weaken. He grabbed her arm and stepped in front of her. She halted to avoid walking into him.

Kenshin spoke quickly. "You're right. You're right. You're right. Please don't walk away."

His words hung in the air between them. That hadn't been how she'd wanted things to turn out. She'd had an idea that she'd waltz in and apologize and he'd accept and they'd be friends again. She hadn't expected him to put her faults on display. She forced herself to swallow and take a calming breath. "I shouldn't have gotten self-righteous."

He watched her warily. "Don't apologize. I just said you were right."

Kaoru glowered. "Do you want this resolved or not?"

Kenshin's eyes widened; then he relaxed and took his hand from her arm. "I'd like to date you, Kaoru," he said, stunning her. "I kept trying to tell you, but nothing registered. I'm sorry, but I can't be just friends."

She needed somewhere to sit down. With a whoosh, the air expelled itself from her lungs. She hadn't known she was holding her breath. "But you weren't happy when you came to pick me up from work."

"I was too nervous," he said simply. "It hurt the first time, so I was steeling myself for the second time. And then you walked outside and you weren't happy either."

"Because you were upset," Kaoru said slowly. "I saw you holding that cigarette and I decided it was because you regretted it. I'd already convinced myself it was too good to be true and I was waiting for you to prove me wrong. But you didn't."

He snorted. "I hit on you everyday, and you couldn't tell?"

He had? "You have to be blatant."

"Kaoru, I make you dinner. I go shopping with you. I even said I'd rather look at you than Playboy."

She couldn't help laughing, mostly with relief. An eternity of tension and the train on the tracks between them hadn't been there after all, only an illusion. "I thought you were joking."

"Kaoru, many married men don't choose their wives over Playboy."

"Yes they do!"

He tilted his head at her skeptically. "If you say so." He smiled at her and she smiled at him and that excited, bubbly feeling was back. "We're like a soap opera," he said. "I liked you, you liked me, and then we both talked ourselves out of it."

Kaoru started to shake her head, but it was true.

"You do like me, don't you?" For the first time, he seemed nervous. "Like me like I'm talking about, I mean."

Kaoru blushed. "I do."

His eyes softened. "I think we're making up," he said.

"I think you're right," she said.


	10. Awkward

** Disclaimer - I don't own Rurouni Kenshin or any of the 'Lethal Weapon' movies.  
**

**-**

**Grocery Store**

**- **

**Chapter 10 - Awkward  
**

-

"Hi, Kenshin!" Kaoru said as he opened his front door the morning after the wedding. They'd both gotten back from the reception in the early morning hours, so she wasn't surprised to see him wearing that horrible green dolphin pattern t-shirt and a pair of plaid pajamas that clashed atrociously. At least he'd stopped wearing the shirt in public.

Kenshin looked surprised to see her. "I thought you'd still be asleep. I only got six hours."

"No, I'm alright." On cue, Kaoru had to cover up a yawn.

Kenshin shot her a skeptical look.

"Aren't you going to let me in?" Distraction was the best policy sometimes.

"Oh, sorry." He stood aside and Kaoru walked past him, catching a whiff of what she'd always assumed was the soap he used in the shower.

"You're not going anywhere today are you?" she asked, although he never did if he changed back into pajamas after his morning shower. Kenshin had gone to college in LA and picked up the habit of wearing pajamas all day, although he never did outside of his apartment.

"I was going to drop by later, but since you're here, I guess I'm in for today." He glanced past her out the window. It was pouring. The rain drumming against his window made for comforting background noise.

"Good," Kaoru said, and because they weren't just friends anymore, because they hadn't really been for a while now, she took a step closer, stood on her toes, and kissed him quickly, before she lost her nerve.

Instantly, her face felt like a few brushfires had just flamed to life, which was ridiculous because she like-liked Kenshin and he like-liked her back, so there was no reason to be shy. Somehow, Kaoru managed to resist staring down at the ground like an inexperienced middle schooler, but maybe she shouldn't have stopped the analogy there, because she'd just used the term 'like-liked' in a sentence. Twice.

But all that didn't matter, because when she'd come out of shock enough to focus on the man standing in front of her, he was grinning like the cat who'd swallowed the canary.

"I knew I liked this shirt."

Just as quickly as they'd started, the brushfires were doused and Kaoru felt the color lift from her face. "It had nothing to do with the shirt."

Kenshin shook his head. "Oh, it's got everything to do with the shirt."

"I don't even like that shirt."

"But if you can kiss me while I'm wearing this shirt, you must like me a lot."

Kaoru looked at a particular green dolphin that looked like it was about to bite the tail of the one in front of it. She shook her head. Maybe he'd spill something on it sometime in the near future. "You're right about that, Kenshin." She would have turned away to walk into the living room at that moment, feeling just the tiniest bit disappointed, mind you, but in the moment before she turned Kenshin reached out and took her hand.

"This isn't going to be awkward, is it?" he asked quietly.

Her heart started beating faster. She watched as he looked down at their joined hands. "Probably," she said. "At first."

"I guess you're right," he said and pulled her hand a little so their arms were stretched between them in a 'V'. He looked up and met her eyes and there went her heart again.

"Just the first five minutes," Kaoru said and gave his hand a light squeeze.

"What happens after that?"

She took a step towards him. "You'll realize I'm not going to back out of this."

He dropped her hand in favor of putting his hands at her waist and tugging her the rest of the way toward him. "So you'll realize I'm not backing out either?"

Kaoru reached up and put her arms around his shoulders. "It might sink in by then. I think I'm insecure."

"Yeah right." He closed his eyes, confusing her, and leaned down until his forehead touched hers. "Don't be insecure about me, Kaoru."

She kept her eyes open for a moment, then sighed in contentment and closed hers as well. There was something about this moment, about the rain that still thrummed against the window, about this man. Maybe their five minutes were up early.

---

---

A few days later they sat curled together on the couch watching one of the Lethal Weapon movies, Kaoru wasn't sure which. The popcorn was in her lap and she was in Kenshin's, and that was still so new and exciting that she couldn't concentrate on the movie. It was all she could do just to stay calm. Every ten minutes ago she'd realize just where she was and who she was with and her heart would start beating double time until she did deep breathing exercises just to fight the urge to jump up and scream because she was so happy. And then there was the rain, reassuring on the window, always the rain.

She already loved how aware of her Kenshin was. He'd kiss her every now and then, or tap his fingers in a pattern up and down her leg, or finger the ends of her hair. Just because of that she'd never cut it pixie short again. Kaoru had a feeling Kenshin's mind wasn't fully on the movie either.

"Hey, Kaoru?"

"Hmm."

"The other day, after the wedding, why'd you come over so early? I meant to ask you."

"I came over at ten." But she knew what he meant.

"But you got home at three." He tugged lightly on a lock of her hair. "And you like to sleep in on Saturdays… So?"

Kaoru laughed. "It's stupid."

"I want to know." She could hear the smile in his voice.

"Okay. When I woke up Sunday morning, for some reason I couldn't believe Megumi was really married. I saw the bridesmaid's dress in the chair by the bed where I'd left it, but somehow, I couldn't believe it."

He leaned forward and smothered a laugh into her hair. "That is stupid."

Kaoru tried to hit him, but the angle was all wrong. "So after I did the morning thing I came down to see you and ask you if it all really happened. But of course the second I saw you I knew it had. And that story is not stupid. I think I had part of my mid-life crisis."

"You're not even thirty yet."

"Details, Kenshin, details."

---

---

Two weeks and five days after the wedding, the day before Megumi and Sano were due to return from their honeymoon, Kenshin held up a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. "You want one?"

Kaoru shook her head. "The sugar makes my milk gritty."

He shrugged and put the box back on the shelf. "And why is that a bad thing?"

"I don't like gritty milk." She pushed her shopping cart down the aisle, towards the frosted shredded wheat. It was on sale, so she put three boxes in her cart. She looked up to find Kenshin watching her with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" She refused to acknowledge the fact that she just might be acting a little grumpy, emphasis on the 'might'. "I'm trying to eat healthier."

"I think all the frosting kind of negates the shredded wheat."

He was probably right, but she didn't feel like acknowledging that fact either. "You're not a doctor, Kenshin."

"I used to work for a medical school."

"Get back to me when you're an M.D."

Kenshin idly observed a toddler trying to escape from the kids' seat of a shopping cart when his mother's back was turned. "Or I could just wait until Megumi gets back from her honeymoon in three days and ask her. I'd save a fortune on med school bills."

He was practical, she'd give him that. "You weren't supposed to take me seriously."

He grinned. "I didn't." He softened the words by sliding an arm around her waist and coaxing her to move in close to him. "How are you with public displays of affection?"

"I always thought it was gross when people made out in front of me in high school." The mother of the restless toddler turned around and stopped her child from vaulting out of the shopping cart just in time. Kaoru and Kenshin turned the cart into the next aisle.

"And yet," Kenshin said thoughtfully, "I distinctly recall you frenching me in a parking lot."

Kaoru shrugged. "I was caught up in the moment." They were in the aisle with toothpaste.

"Or dazzled by my bright, white smile. The world may never truly know."

Kaoru decided to ignore that and scanned the products quickly. She didn't want to be here for long. "I know grocery shopping is boring, and I'm sorry I dragged you along, but I'll be done soon." Wow, that speech had sounded like she was talking to a kid or something. The day had taken a toll on her.

"Where'd you get that idea from, Kaoru? This is the perfect ending to our date," Kenshin said lightly.

Kaoru had to smile at that. They bypassed a couple aisles and turned into one with paper towels. "That was not a date."

Kenshin removed his arm from around her waist and stood back to look at her. "Then what was it?"

"An outing. Helping you run a fair to make money for your company isn't a date. And I resent the fact that you made me sit in the dunking booth for two half-hour shifts."

"It was ninety degrees outside. You dried off in ten minutes."

"That little punk wearing the bright blue shirt dunked me eight times," Kaoru said as she picked up a roll of paper towels and moved on.

"Well it wasn't all fun and games for me either," Kenshin teased.

"Yeah right," Kaoru scoffed.

"Running a pie eating contest is harder than it looks."

"Your three leftover pies are sitting in the car right now."

"I almost got thrown up on," Kenshin reminded her, stopping to stand in the middle of the aisle for dramatic emphasis.

Kaoru kept going. "You were ten feet away."

"That was projectile vomiting!"

Kaoru rolled her eyes and glanced back to see Kenshin trailing after her. "You owe me one for today."

He sighed. "Anything you want, dear, although do I think carrying your groceries back to your apartment for you should count."

"You were going to do that anyway. And what's with the 'dear'? We're not fifty."

"It's a term of endearment," Kenshin said, mock haughtily. I'm experimenting with them, my oh so sweet darling one."

Kaoru wrinkled her nose. "Ew."

Kenshin adopted a hurt expression. "Something wrong, puddin' pop?"

"I do not, and have never in my life, borne the slightest resemblance to a pudding pop, or anything made out of pudding." A middle aged man pushing a cart filled with party supplies shot them an amused glance as he passed them.

"Yes, honeybunch, of course you don't look like pudding."

"That sounded slightly condescending."

"It's all in your head, lovely."

Well, she kind of liked that one. "Let's just go. I think I've got everything I need."

"As you wish, buttercup."

She paused and gave him a hard look as he caught up to her. He winked.

"Maybe I shouldn't have forced you to watch 'The Princess Bride'," Kaoru admitted, half to herself, "but that was revenge for taking me paint-balling again. You know I'm horrible at that."

Kenshin winced. "I thought you'd learned from last time. But look," he reached behind her head, "the dunking booth water washed out the last of the green paint in your hair."

Kaoru froze. "There was still green paint in my hair?"

"I thought you knew."

Kaoru stared at him in shock.

Kenshin started speed walking to the front of the store.

Kaoru's hand flew to the back of her head. She'd been at that fair for a good three hours before it had been her shift for the dunking booth. Her only hope was that she never saw any of the people who'd gone to the fair again. She pushed her cart past an elderly woman. Fluorescent green paint on the back of her head! How the heck had she missed that one? And why hadn't Kenshin told her? She was going to kill him.

Kaoru marched around the corner of the aisle to the cashier lines. No Kenshin. If he was smart, he'd have gone outside to bring the car around to the entrance. Trying not to look too foreboding, considering there were small children present, Kaoru pushed her shopping cart to the end of the first open checkout line. The store was crowded today, but she didn't feel like searching for the line with the least customers only to have it be the first line she'd picked. It was that kind of day.

Two hands covered her eyes and Kenshin said in her ear, "I was just kidding about your hair, muffin."

Well that was weight off her shoulders. Kaoru pushed his hands away so she could see and turned to face him. "I believed you." She grudgingly let him put his hands at her waist and pull her towards him.

"I know," Kenshin said with a smile. "I'll make that up to you too, if you'll hang out with me tonight."

In the end, she really couldn't resist that smile, or the way he looked at her. Kaoru smiled and reached up to finger a few strands of the red hair that framed his face. "I thought it was you that was hanging out with me."

He pushed them back a couple steps as the line moved forward. Kaoru's body rolled the shopping cart forward in line a couple feet. "Whatever you want, baby love."

Kaoru laughed and completely forgave him for making her work the dunking booth. "When are you going to stop calling me corny names?"

"When I find the one that turns you on, sweetheart." He leaned forward to kiss her, but she pushed him back a little.

"Well it's not 'sweetheart'. That makes me think of frilly Valentine 's Day cards."

Kenshin frowned. "The ones with lace, right?"

"You hit the nail on the head, sugar pie."

He grinned. "I thought you were against corny names, dumpling."

"I was being sarcastic."

"Of course," he said.

Then they had one of those moments where you just stare at each other and it feels like forever in your time, but it's actually a split second for the rest of the world. It was a relief in a way, because this was the first of their moments and she hadn't known she'd been waiting for one until it came.

It was one of those moments that's sweetly sickening, if you're on the outside looking in. Sweet because it's like-like, maybe even love-like. Sickening because there was a time, is a time, will be a time when you don't have that connection and in your mind, you tell them to 'go get a room' or 'I did not need to see that'. You'll read about it or watch it on TV, but you don't want to see it there in front of you. But it's sweet again because there was a time, is a time, will be a time when you'll be happy for that couple. That's it: just happy.

Kaoru reached an arm up around Kenshin's neck and kissed him. He kissed her back. Light. Silly. Smiling.

They were in public after all.

---

**A/N - This is the end of the story for us, if not for this version of Kenshin and Kaoru. I _am_ sorry the last chapter was late in coming. I had a case of writer's block, but I really enjoyed writing this story because it was so happy and lightweight most of the time. I hope you enjoyed reading it as well. **


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